With no permission being sought from the Army, the Fort William authorities squarely blamed the Kolkata Police for “failing to prevent this unauthorised activity”.

The Army sent a letter to the Commissioner of Kolkata police, saying such activities on Maidan, which has no clearance of the Army, should not be allowed in the future.

“No clearance was given to organise yesterday’s ‘protest’ book fair. Neither have they approached us for permission. Yesterday’s event was clearly unauthorised and it is the duty of the police to keep a check on such unauthorised activities. The damage is done, but at least, the letter will serve as a reminder to the police of their lapses,” said Group Captain RK Das.

Senior Army officers went on a round of inspection of the Maidan today to gauge the extent to which the greens had been mauled. They spotted 40 pits, each around two feet deep, that were dug up to build a makeshift stage.

Both the Commissioner of Police Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti and DC (Headquarters) Vineet Goyal denied receiving any letter. “I had no idea whether yesterday's event had violated any norm. There were no complaints from the Army or any individual regarding any sort of violation,” said Goyal.

The Army also served a notice to the Publishers and Book Sellers’ Guild, demanding that the organisers restore the Maidan to its previous condition.

The Guild authorities claimed that the organisers of yesterday’s event had no connection with the Guild.

“It was organised by

writers and individuals and the Guild had no role. We have not received any letter from the Army,” said Tridib Chatterjee, secretary, Publishers and Book Sellers’ Guild.

Environmental experts in the technical committee constituted by the Guild on December 24 are angry at the way the Guild has neglected the environmental aspects. Automobile expert SM Ghosh, who was looking into the air pollution aspect, was the first one to resign as the honorary member of the Environment Protection Cell of the Guild.