Lead of page three, books are man's true companions: DM
Jagran Correspondent, Asansol: Asansol Book Fair, organized by Yuva Shilpi Sansad at Polo Ground, Asansol, entered its 42nd year this year. The fair was inaugurated with a ceremony on Friday afternoon. Famous litterateur Jaya Mitra and District Governor Ponnabalam S inaugurated the book fair by lighting the lamp. On this occasion, Asansol Municipal Corporation Chairman Amarnath Chattopadhyay, Basudev Mandal, Secretary Soumen Das, Sachin Rai, Dr. Debashish Bandyopadhyay, Vikas Gayen, Parthapratim Acharya, Somnath Garai and other dignitaries were present. After this, the flag of Yuva Shilpi Sansad was hoisted by Soumen Das and the flag of book fair was hoisted by District Magistrate S. Ponnabalam hoisted. This year's souvenir magazine was released by Municipal Corporation Chairman Amarnath Chattopadhyay. District Magistrate S. Ponnabalam said that Asansol is a city where two book fairs are organized within a month, one government and the other. Both are very well organised. He said, "Today he has come as a District Magistrate, but in the future he will come again as a book lover. No matter how modern the society becomes, books will always be man's true companion."
Litterateur Jaya Mitra said that Yuva Shilpi Sansad has been organizing this book fair continuously for the last 42 years. Everyone will have to cooperate to take it further in future. Secretary of the fair, Soumen Das said that the stage programs will start from January 10 and the fair will conclude with a musical program on the evening of January 18. A quiz competition will be organized for students up to class 12th on January 16. On January 18, the last day of the fair, there will be a “Sitting Drawing” and Alpana competition in the afternoon. Kavi Sammelan will be organized on 15th January. Sagnik Sen will be present at the evening concert on January 17, while Deep Chatterjee and Matan will perform at the closing ceremony on January 18. This year, for the first time on January 13 at 6:30 pm, a new program “Kahani Suniya” will be organized, in which inspirational stories of great persons who have made sacrifices for the country or made the nation proud will be narrated. A total of 50 book stalls have been set up in the fair, where books in Bengali, Hindi and English languages will be available.