Centre likely to call off 30th New Delhi World Book Fair

The main organiser of the 30th edition of the Delhi World Book Fair , however, has sent a report to the Central government regarding the possibilities of the fair, which included postponing it to April 2021

Following guidelines issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) amid the rise in Covid-19 cases, the Ministry of Education (MoE) may cancel the nine-day New Delhi Annual World Book Fair, scheduled to begin from January 8. The National Book Trust (NBT) – the main organiser of the 30th edition of the fair, however, has sent a report to the central government regarding the possibilities of the fair, which included postponing it to April 2021.

Visitors browse through books during the Delhi Book Fair in 2019. (HT PHOTO)

A senior official of the MoE, said that taking note of the sudden rise in the cases of Omicron variant of Covid-19, the ministry may decide to postpone the book fair.

“Though the DDMA, in its advisory, has banned the organisation of only business-to-business events, it’ll not be a wise decision to organise this fair – a business-to-customer event – for safety reasons as thousands of people come to this event every year. The official order in this connection will be issued soon as the options of postponing the event to April this year or organising it as per schedule in virtual mode are under consideration,” he said, requesting anonymity.

When contacted, Govind Prasad Sharma, the chairman of NBT, also said that he had apprised the MoE about the bottlenecks in organising the book fair in the present scenario. “We’ve informed the MoE about the risks in organising this fair. Most publishers have expressed their unavailability for this edition of the book fair. We don’t have much time left for the preparations. And, considering the expected heavy footfall, the organisers will never take the risk with the lives of people. The fair is almost cancelled. Now, we are just waiting for the orders from the ministry,” he said.