UNB, Dhaka :The Bangla Academy authorities have taken all-out preparation to arrange the month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair scheduled to begin in the capital on February 1. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the book fair at 3 pm, deputy director of Bangla Academy Murshed Anwar told UNB.Bangla Academy hopes this year’s book fair will be the largest ever gathering of book lovers and there will be increased number of participating publishers as the venue of the fair has been extended to Suhrawardy Udyan.This year, the government institutions and organisations will set up their stalls on the Bangla Academy premises while all the publishing houses will set up stalls at Suhrawardy Udyan.Murshed Anwar said, all the necessary tasks like allocation of stalls, security measures and budget for the fair have already been taken care of.Setting up book stalls is going on in full swing at the fair venue and it will continue till January 31, he said.The authorities have allotted 262 stalls to publishers in three categories — 131 for single unit, 83 for double unit, and 48 for tripple unit-out of 320 applications received from the interested publishers, Murshed Anwar said.Meanwhile, publishers welcomed the decision of the Bangla Academy authorities for extending the venue to Suhrawardy Udyan as it will increase participation of more publishers at the book fair this year.”We’re now busy in installing our stalls. We think, the fair will see the largest gathering of visitors because of extending the fair to Suhrawardy Udyan,” said Osman Gani, the owner of Agami Prokashoni.Murshed Anwar said, the Bangla Academy authorities have already formed a book fair management committee with Bangla Academy director general Prof Shamsuzzaman Khan as president and director Shahida Khatun as convener. He said the authorities have made arrangement for tight security measures in and around the Bangla Academy premises and Suhrawardy Udyan to avert any untoward incident.The Close Circuit TV (CCTV) cameras will be installed at different points of the book fair. A temporary police camp will be set up in the fair while police, RAB and plainclothes law enforcers will be deployed at the fair venue, the Bangla Academy official said.
