Army not against Book Fair in Kolkata maidan

Kolkata, Nov 9(UNI) The army today gave consent to holding the Kolkata Book Fair in the Maidan provided environment was maintained.

During a tripartite meeting involving the West Bengal Government and Publishers and Book sellers Guild at The Writers' Building, GOC Bengal, Dipak Raj said the army, the owner of the maidan, had no objection to holding the annual event if proper measures were taken against environmental pollution.

This cleared the way for the Government and the organisers, the Guild, to move the court seeking permission to perpetuate the fair in the heart of the city.

Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray, besides representatives from the army and the Guild attended the meeting.

Later, Mr.Ray told reporters that the Government and the Guild would shortly appeal to Calcutta High Court for its permission.

Organised by the Publishers and Book Sellers' Guild, the book fair, a prominent event on international chart, is being held in the maidan for more than three decades. However, it was following a Calcutta High Court order in 2003 that the book fair was set to be shifted to the city's eastern fringe by the side of the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass from this year. This sounded a crash in coffers that the event fills in crores every year.

Owned by the defence, the Maidan is the area where sports stadiums and the famous Victoria Memorial are located. It is also the place where hundreds of people take morning strolls.

But the chief minister, who is a patron of the book fair, declared last week that the Government and the Guild would appeal to the Calcutta High Court to allow the book fair, an important cultural event, to be held at the Maidan. Reasoning that the fair should be centrally located for the benefit of book lovers, the chief minister also promised to help maintain the maidan's green and environment.

However, even though he made the army fall in line, Howrah Ganatantrik Nagarik Samiti, a prominent Non Government Organisation, had recently threatened to challenge such a move in the court.

The NGO argues that the way the book fair is held destroys the maidan's green and causes immense harm to the city's environment.

UNI KDG PL KLC1716