Nuzhat Hassan, director of National Book Trust, claimed that 17th nine-day New Delhi book fair that came to an end Saturday, was a grand success and said over one million visitors visited stalls of 17 countries and Indian book publishers who took part in the fair.
But the Indian publishers, particularly those printing and distributing books in Hindi and regional languages, rubbished the claim and alleged that they had been given a step motherly treatment by those organising the fair. "We were given stalls at places where there were few visitors," they alleged.
"I don't think this is a fair criticism. India Trade Promotion Organisation had done the bookings of the halls with the representatives of various publishing houses. So I cannot say anything about it. No publishing house was given unfair treatment by us," Hassan said in response to a question.
She also pointed out that the amount charged from of the each stall owner was the same as last year. "In fact there was 50 per cent discount for the regional publishers. Last year we had entry free of cost, but this time the visitors had to pay and we had nothing to do with the decision that was taken by ITPO," she clarified.
She agreed with the suggestion that in order to give more space to publishers at nominal fee, the book fair should not be clubbed along with other fairs. This time the book fair was clubbed with the defence expo exhibition due to which those visiting Pragati Maidan had to face lot of difficulty.
"My feedback is encouraging and the publishers both Indians and foreign have done business worth crores of rupees," she said.
