The industry of publishing creative books is set to suffer heavy loss despite the government's financial support due to the apprehension of lingering the ongoing political unrests during the upcoming Ekushey Book Fair.
The leading publishers of the city's Bangla Bazar area and the authority of Bangla Academy have talked about the sorry state of publishing creative books while talking to FE about their preparations for the upcoming Ekushey Book Fair 2014.
The authority of Bangla Academy has proposed to shift the book stalls to the Soharwordi Uddan from the Academy premises fearing the possible fire attacks amid prevailing political unrests.
Director General (DG) of Bangla Academy Professor Shamsuzzaman Khan said publishing of creative books has slowed down ahead of the upcoming book fair.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) recently issued a circular to provide loans to publishers under the criteria of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at an interest of 10 per cent.
"We have taken the measure of providing loans to facilitate the industry of creative publications following the order of the governor," said immediate past general manager of the BB Sukomal Sinha.
But the publishers are in a sorry state despite the loan facility due to prevailing political unrests.
"I am concerned about the publishers' tensions and sluggish preparation for the up coming book fair due to the prevailing political crisis. Nevertheless, we will have to arrange the book fair considering the importance of history and tradition," Mr Khan told the FE.
"The books are inflammable products. That's why we are in an apprehension of fire attacks by the miscreants following the ongoing activities. As a result, we have proposed to shift the book stalls, other than the routine functions of the fair, to the Soharwordi Uddan considering the safety of the Academy buildings and other establishments," Mr Khan said.
He said now the proposed arrangements will depend on the law enforcing agencies.
In the Ekushey Book Fair-2013, the stalls of 22 publishers burnt into ashes causing a significant amount of loss to the publishers.
"The fair will be arranged as usual if the agencies can provide us required safety," said the DG of Bangla Academy.
Around 300 publishers, including 135 members of the Bangladesh Academic and Creative Publishers' Association (BACPA) and some government and private organisations, get the allotment of stalls in the book fair.
"The present situation is worse than that of 2013. A significant number of book lovers will not be able to go to the fair if the prevailing situation continues in February, 2014," said an official of the Bangla Academy.
"The sales of creative books depend on the people's solvency and mental happiness, which is presently absent due to prevailing crisis. That's why we are in a hesitation in making investment for the book fair," said President of BACPA and also the publisher of the Agami Prokashoni Osman Gani.
According to Mr Gani, in the upcoming book fair the number of published books might be reduced to half of the number of previous year.
"Normally, 135 members of our organisation print around 4000 fresh books in Ekushey Book Fair. The number might be come down to around 2000 in 2014," Mr Gani said.
"The number of our new books in 2014 may be reduced to one-third of the books published during previous fair. Under such calculation, the investment of all publishers in printing new books can come down to Tk 5.0 billion from Tk 15.0 billion," said Publisher of Aninda Prakash Afzal Hossain.
Some other publishers have also echoed with these two publishers while speaking on their incomplete preparation for the Ekushey Book Fair 2014.
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