At least 20 publication houses received warnings against sale of pirated books and books published by other publication houses, following a drive by the Fair Committee yesterday.
Manzurur Rahman, chief of the Copyright Task Force, led the drive along with some other concerned officials of Bangla Academy yesterday from 4.15pm till 5.30pm.
The committee says if the errant publication houses do not comply, their stalls could be closed down.
Although article 6.1 of the Fair Regulations 2015 allows participating institutions to sell books printed and published in Bangladesh, article 6.5 restricts participating institutions and bodies from selling books of other publishing houses.
Earlier at the fair, publishers and fair committee members said at least 50 stalls had been selling books published by foreign publishers, especially Indian ones, and pirated books and titles that had been published by others.
On February 3, the fair committee paid a visit and warned over 25 other book stalls for breaching guidelines.
“The publishers met us and assured us that they would follow the guidelines,” Jalal Ahmed, fair committee member secretary, said.
Pen Internationals, Bartaman Sanglap, Bhakti Bedanta Book Stall, SD Multimedia Prakashani, Micros Digital, Chootoder Mela, PPMC, Nandini Prakash, Shabdo Shilpo, Shishughar, Phoolki, Ajmail Publications, Mou Prakashani, Brataman Samoy, Ilma Prakashani, and Ankur Prakashani were among others who were warned yesterday.
However, the drive – and the consecutive warnings – proved fruitless almost immediately as some of the publication houses went back to selling pirated books as well as books by other publication houses.
The fair, yesterday on its 11th day, saw the new arrivals of 100 books yesterday, with the total number of new arrivals reaching 1,471.
Today, it will hold Shishur Prohor (Children’s Hour) from 11am to 2pm. With today being the first day of Falgun, the fair is expected to be vibrant with many visitors, especially the youth, as the country will celebrate the welcoming of spring.
‘Bangladesh-India Water War’ unveils silence of politics
Bangladesh-India Water War, written by Dhaka-based journalist Altaf Parvez, was launched at the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela yesterday.
The book unveils, through its six chapters, the silence of both the politics and administration of Bangladesh which has been resulting in the direst consequences of the fate of the people of Bangladesh at the lower Himalayan plains.
The book, which is a compilation of field observations by Altaf, holds that Bangladesh is deprived of the rights of its rivers as India has barred the natural flow of at least 57 rivers which travel through India and Bangladesh. It also depicts the picture of aspects of the dangerously affected socio-economic, political and environmental area, the author has said.
The book, also has a depiction of the ‘Interlinking of Rivers Project’ in India under Modi government, and explores how it will affect the lives dependent on the rivers.
The book has been published by Tarafdar Prokashoni and is available at the fair.
