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Book fair hours longer from today

Staff Correspondent
Business hours for the last three days of Amar Ekushey Granthamela-2015 have been increased.
Today the book fair will open an hour early at 2:00pm and close half an hour later at 9:00pm. The extended closing time will be applicable also for Friday and Saturday, when the fair would open at the usual 11:00am.
Publishers had applied to the fair management committee to run the fair for another seven days, said Bangla Academy Member Secretary Al tafHossain.
Yesterday, 116 books arrived and 11 were launched.
Meanwhile, visitors continued to buy books from non-commercial and non-publishing houses and government institutions located on the Bangla Academy portion.
Even the National Curriculum and Textbook Board sold the national education policy, said Nazrul Islam, the institution's office assistant.
“We even gave books for free to children who said they did not get a particular textbook," he said.
Another stall providing books for free since
February 19 is Sporsha Braille Prokashona.
"So far we distributed 56 books," said Taslima Akther, a volunteer of the organisation yesterday.
This year they brought out a rhyme and poetry book and four biographies, that of Helen Keller, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Begum Rokeya and Louis Braille.
Located opposite Teletalk's stall, Jatiya Grantho
Kendra, where writers and publishing houses that could not get stalls put up their books for sale, had a frustrating experience this year.
Staff complained that they lost customers to the Teletalk stall where students were sold SIM cards for Ik 50. "The crowd spills over to our stall and use it for filling up the registration form, so our customers cannot go through books," said one wishing ano-
nymity.
"Last year by this time we sold almost 25 times more than what we have sold this year," she said, adding that books from children's literature to research by 250 writers were available.
However, Press Institute of Bangladesh staff appeared satisfied. "By this time last year we had sold books worth Ik one lakh but this year the figure is a little less," said Publication Department Officer Reaz Md Monzurul Haq Khan.
The Metropolitan Police stall was found selling books of other publications, violating the fair rules which say they must have a distribution permit.
Jahangir Alam, the stall in-charge, said those books, written by police personnel, were kept for promotional, not commercial, purposes.
Jalal Ahmed, director of the fair management committee, said, "I do not know if any such permission was granted.” Many other stalls on the Bangla Academy portion, including Jatir Jonok Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Jadughar and Jubo Jagoron, were selling books published by mainstream publications such as University Press Limited and Agamee.