JORHAT, Nov 29: There is good news for book lovers here. The Jorhat Book Fair which was cancelled because of alleged clash of dates with the Trade Fair organizers, will now be held in January.
A cultural organization Aikyatan has taken upon itself the responsibility of arranging a book fair at short notice after the Assam Academic Centre scrapped their plans in October.
Aikyatan has applied for booking space in the Jorhat District Sports Association grounds in January and has gone into an overdrive to contact various book stores and agencies in the Northeast and elsewhere to set up stalls.
A member of the organization said that, may be stalls from Delhi and Kolkata would be less this time because of the time constraint but it hoped to put up a good show so as not to disappoint book lovers.
The cancellation of the biennial book fair had cast a pall of gloom over the people in general and the JDSA and Trade Fair organizers, Trivenee Club, were both being blamed for the date hotchpotch and non-adjustment.
The Trivenee Club wanted to hold the Trade Fair from December 5 to December 20 and the Academic Centre the Book Fair from December 18 to 28.
On request, the Trivenee Club adjusted the dates from December 1 to 15 but according to the Assam Academic Centre, the two-day gap in between was too less a period to set up its book stalls.
Jorhat MLA Rana Goswami who is also the president of JDSA said that, at the beginning he had no knowledge of the clashing of dates and that the secretary JDSA, who is at present undergoing treatment in Mumbai for cancer, had arranged the entire thing.
Goswami had asked Trivenee Club to adjust its dates from November 25 so that Assam Academic Centre got enough time to set up stalls.
However, Dr Zakir Ahmed, president of Trivenee Club said that the JDSA and the Assam Academic Centre’s stance was unfair.
“We have already backed down twice. The first time we adjusted from December 1 to 15 and the second time we cut down by one more day agreeing to dismantle our stalls by evening of December 14, leaving three days for the Book Fair to make its own arrangements”, Dr Ahmed said adding that it would not be possible to wind up before that as December 13 was a Sunday, a day when visitors were maximum to the fair.
Dr Zakir Ahmed had explained that starting from November 25 also was not a viable proposition as sought by JDSA as major companies from outside had already been issued invitations and the formalities have been worked out with them. Moreover, most of the school exams would be on at that time. Soon after the Assam Academic Centre announced that it would not be holding the fair on the plea that even four days time in between was not sufficient for setting up stalls. THE SENTINEL
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