KMC may get Rs 2 lakh for book fair as rent

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PoushaliMitra

Posted online: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 at 12:00:00
Updated: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 at 01:50:01

Kolkata, January 1 After a year of uncertainty, the Kolkata Book Fair finally found its feet at Park Circus Maidan. Now, thanks to mediation by litterateur Sunil Gangopadhyay, organisers of the fair — Publishers and Book Sellers Guild —will have to pay just around Rs 2.2 lakh to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) instead of Rs 1.19 crore being charged earlier. This is the first time in over the last 30 years of the fair that the guild has been asked to pay rent.

“The rental has been reduced but we have not ascertained the amount yet. It will be about Rs 2.2 lakh,” said Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya today. “We will also not charge amusement tax, worth around Rs 23,000, to the guild,” he added.

On December 23, after a meeting between Bhattacharya, Gangopadhyay and guild secretary Tridib Chattopadhyay, Park Circus Maidan was declared as the venue of the Book Fair. “In the meeting, the mayor had agreed to the guild paying just Rs 2 lakh,” Gangopadhyay told The Indian Express.

However, Chattopadhyay preferred not to reveal the exact settlement. “We have spoken to the KMC. They have decided to curtail the rent of the Park Circus Maidan.”

Last year after the Calcutta High Court banned the fair from the Maidan following court cases, the fair was shifted to the Yuba Bharati Krirangan at Salt Lake.

Before that, the fair had been organised on the Maidan for 31 years, where the guild paid a nominal Rs 150 per day as non-commercial tax to the Army.

Gangopadhyay added that he did not want the fair to be held at Salt Lake. “Why should the Kolkata Book Fair be held at Salt Lake which is part of North 24 Parganas? The fair is an important event and many leading personalities from across the world attend it. It should be held in Kolkata,” the author concluded.

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