Srinagar, June 3: A day after the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah inaugurated the nine-day long Book Fair at SP College here, the participating publishers and book sellers Sunday flayed “lack of arrangements and poor publicity”—something which is forcing many of them to ‘quit’ the event.
 The Book Fair at SP College here—organized by the National Book Trust of India (NBT) in collaboration with the J&K Academy for Art, Culture and Languages and Urdu Academy—is being held after a gap of over 20 years. The Book Fair was Saturday inaugurated by the Chief Minister who described it as “a welcome step in the direction of reviving the habit of book reading among the people.”
 But, according to publishers and book sellers from within and outside the state, the Book Fair has not been given proper publicity. “I talked to Deputy Director Exhibitions at NBT on phone. He told me that they have allotted Rs two lakh for promotion and publicity of the Book Fair. But we fail to understand what happened to that money? There are no hoardings visible at public places in Srinagar. There is total lack of publicity in print and electronic media. So how do you expect people to visit the Book Fair?” asked Manzoor-Ul-Haq, President, Kashmir Book Suppliers and Publishers Association.
 Haq said: “I wrote a letter to the Deputy Director, Exhibitions, NBT to have an alternate place for the Book Fair.” “I conveyed to him that we would help the NBT in finding a new place and also assist in publicity of the event,” he said.
 Many other publishers, who spoke to Greater Kashmir, underlined the importance of proper publicity for Book Fairs. “Essentially it is the book lovers who make the Book Fairs successful. The local partners in Kashmir should have given proper publicity to the event and also taken into account the place where it was to be held,” said a group of publishers, insisting not to be named.
 A representative of Delhi-based publisher Satish Edusoft Books accused the NBT of making a mockery of the entire Book Fair. “If the NBT and local partners don’t give proper publicity to the event, we would quit it,” the representative said.
 Members of Delhi-based Urdu Publishers and Book Sellers Association accused the NBT of “backtracking from the promise of  providing proper accommodation to them.” “They told us that if will arrange 40 stalls for the Book Fair, they would provide us free accommodation. But they failed to keep the word,” they said.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 3 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 3 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
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