Bangla Academy has sent show-cause notice to 21 publishing houses participating in the ongoing Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2016 for changing the location of their stalls without informing the fair authorities.
“We have sent a show-cause letter to 21 publishing houses because they moved their stalls from the designated location without our knowledge. They breached the book fair guideline,” said Bangla Academy’s Director General Shamsuzzaman Khan at a press conference yesterday.
Appropriate actions will be taken against the publishing houses, he said, adding that a proposal to put said publishers on a blacklist would be placed at the next meeting of the book fair committee.
However, when asked, Shamsuzzaman did not reveal the names of the publishing houses, nor did he say when the notice had been served.
But some top officials of the academy, requesting anonymity, said some of the publishing houses which were sent the notice are Annesha Prakashan, Shikha Prakashani, Shobha Prakashani, Kakoli Prakashani, Tamralipi, Adorn Publications, Bigyan Academy, Subarna Prakashani, Golpopodyo, Shobdoshilpa and Probritti Prakashani.
The Dhaka Tribune contacted Annesha Prakashan publisher Shahadat Hossain in this regard, who said he had not received any notice from Bangla Academy about breaching the fair guidelines.
Shahadat, who is also a member of the fair committee, claimed Annesha did not change the location of its stall from where it had been allocated. “Annesha has never breached the fair guidelines,” he said.
When contacted in this regard, Tamralipi publisher AKM Tarikul Islam Rony declined to comment.
’I’m satisfied with the fair so far
Bangla Academy chief Shamsuzzaman said he was satisfied with the overall situation at the book fair so far.
He said the academy had so far been successful in keeping the road between the TSC and Doyel Chattar free from vendors and makeshift shops selling pirated books and other paraphernalia.
He also said he was happy with the four-layer security system installed to ensure the security of writers, publishers and visitors.
On the first week of the fair this year, book sales in the stalls on Bangla Academy premises alone amount to around Tk17.5 lakh, Shamsuzzaman said at the press conference.
Last year, book sales during the same period was worth around Tk22 lakh.
The eighth day of the fair yesterday opened to a small number of visitors, but the number increased as the day progressed.
At least 75 new books were published yesterday, putting the total number of new arrivals at 767.