The Amar Ekushey Book Fair witnessed a surge in the number of visitors on the third day of the month-long fair on Monday, as educational institutions across the country remained closed on the day due to Saraswati Puja, but allegations of unclean and dirty environment at the fair were raised by both publishers and visitors.
Visitors, mostly students from different educational institutions visited the fair being organised by the Bangla Academy at Suhrawardy Udyan and the Bangla Academy premises in the capital Dhaka.
On the third day, 32 new titles hit the fair, said Bangla Academy officials.
Ruhinu Mallik, 25, a student from the Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, said that the decoration work at different stalls were still going on and some stalls were not prepared, which created a lot of dust and dirty environment at the fair premises.
鈥楢lthough it鈥檚 the third day of the fair, there is a good crowd who are searching for books, but the environment needs to be clean,鈥� Ruhinu said, adding that the area planning and distribution of stalls were smooth for book lovers.
Rawnaq Ara, 24, a student from the Narayanganj Fine Art Institute, said that this year the fair area increased, which created more flexibility to walk but organisers should focus on clean environment.
鈥業 feel good to watch a huge crowd on the third day of the fair, but the fair premises are still unclean and dusty,鈥� said Rawnaq.
Saeed Bari, a member of the fair organising committee and chief executive of publishing house Suchipatra, said that many publishers complained about the unclean and dirty environment at the fair premises.
Hassan Raqeeb Raj, chief executive of Dreamer donkey, the event management company of the fair, said that they recruited a new agency for cleaning the premises because of poor performance by the regular cleaner.
鈥楶ublishers are still working to complete their stalls and a large number of visitors are littering the place. We hope that we can make an expedition to clean the premises tonight,鈥� Raqeeb said, alleging that the city corporation was not helping them to carry the dirt from the fair premises.