By IANS
Kolkata : Asia’s largest book fair is facing a roadblock in the form of Kolkata residents who feel that the event could harm the environment and cause law and order problems.
After being forced out from Maidan, a green area considered the city’s lungs, organisers of the Kolkata Book Fair were planning to hold the event from Jan 30 to Feb 10 at the Park Circus grounds.
However, residents of Park Circus in central Kolkata have started a campaign against the West Bengal government’s decision to hold the 33rd edition of the book fair in the park surrounded by educational institutions, hospitals and houses.
Green activists fear that a cultural jamboree of such magnitude in a thickly populated area like Park Circus would be an environmental hazard.
Activist Subhas Dutta told IANS: “The place is not at all suitable for hosting such a big event. There are several problems like pollution, space crunch, lack of parking space and traffic congestion.
“Moreover, the ground is located in a thickly-populated area. More than 500 children play there in the evening. Where will they go?”
He said there are hospitals, three schools and two colleges near the park. If any accident were to take place, it would affect the surrounding areas.
“There is no water resource near the new book fair venue. If any bookstall catches fire it would be difficult to extinguish it. The only thing we have to bank upon is the fire brigade,” Dutta said.
Residents of Park Circus have come together under the banner of Orient Row Talbagan Lane We Care Committee to protest against the West Bengal government’s decision to hold the book fair in their area’s recreational ground.
“The fair would create law and order problems, environmental hazard and traffic snarls,” said Asish Banerjee, president of the committee.
The residents have sent letters of protest to the chief minister, the governor and the city mayor.
“The fair would be a nightmare for the residents. We fear dumping of garbage in the area by visitors,” Banerjee said.
“The prospect of two million footfalls may be good news for the fair organisers but not for us. We fear a rise in petty crimes too,” said Shahensha Mirza, a member of the committee.
The Kolkata Book Fair is the most awaited annual cultural event of the city. It is Asia’s biggest and the world’s largest non-trade book fair but there have been controversies regarding the venue of the event.
A huge fire had destroyed the book fair in 1997. The fire had spread from a food kiosk.
The Publishers and Booksellers’ Guild, organisers of the book fair, had to shift the venue from Kolkata’s Maidan to Salt Lake in 2007 after environmental activists won a legal battle to stop the event from being held in the city’s green area.
However, organisers were not happy with the Salt Lake venue and decided to hold the book fair at Park Circus this year.
“We suggest that the book fair be held at the permanent fair complex near the eastern metropolitan bypass on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata as it would be safe and convenient for all,” Dutta said.
The guild has set up an environmental protection cell after pollution-related controversies over hosting this year’s literary carnival.