Tripura govt draws criticism after shifting book fair venue

Today, Tripura Publisher’s Guild, the platform of leading publishing houses of Tripura, announced not to participate in Agartala Book Fair 2020, if the event location is not brought back to the city.

It will be disastrous for the state’s publishing houses in terms of business if the book fair is organised at Hapania, which is located about 6km from the city, they stressed.

"The crowd of students, professionals and intellectuals will not be able to travel such a long distance due to lack of transportation facilities. Ultimately the objective of organising the fair will be defeated,"reasoned the members of the guild .

The president of the Guild, Manas Pal said, Agartala Book Fair has been organised in the city since 1981, and in the past 40 years the book fair has earned the tag of the biggest cultural event of Tripura and become part of the traditions of the state.

But, a sudden change of its venue to a commercial international fair ground will not only hurt the sentiments of the people, but also hit the objective of book fair, he stressed.

He also said, the business opportunities will also be hit by this decision as all the city based publishers will have to bear extra expenditure of transportation apart from stall rent and so on.

The sale of the books has been coming down steadily for the last few years and in the last year it came down by 50 percent, he said.

“We have explained the concerns to the Chairman of Agartala Book Fair Committee and he agreed with us. But, we have also written to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb seeking his attention toward the event which bears huge sentimental and traditional importance. Unfortunately, he has not responded yet. The publishers from outside the state have also conveyed their reservation over the change of venue,” Pal added.