The Ekushey Book Fair scheduled to start from February 1 has been postponed for two weeks due to the spread of new variant of Covid-19.
State Minister for Cultural Affairs K M Khalid said that the next decision would be taken after two weeks considering the pandemic situation, sources at Culture Affairs Ministry have confirmed this to Bangladesh Post.
The authorities of Bangla Academy were preparing to launch the book fair through a big colorful event as the last year book fair was not held as per expectation. But the new variant of Covid-19 Omicron is changing everything again.
However, if everything goes well, it is expected that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the book fair on the first day of February. And if the pandemic situation worsens, the hygiene rules will be strictly followed.
The Bangla Academy authorities said that the government would take a decision on the book fair if the infection rate goes out of control.
However, construction of stalls for Ekushey Book Fair has already started. At the same time, the work of arranging different stages including construction of different centers at the fair is also going on in full swing.
Meanwhile, the country’s publishing industry has been hit hard by the pandemic in the last two years. No books were sold as all the educational institutions including schools, colleges and universities were closed at that time. Almost all the publishers had left the book fair ground with loss even in the last year.
According to some publishers, last year they could not even raise their expenses from the book fair. As the current coronavirus situation is also complicated there will not be much benefit from the fair.
In this situation, it is better not to organize the fair, they suggested.
