Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Book Fair ended on a wet note on January 1 at NTR Stadium, taking stall owners by surprise and giving visitors a difficult time. The grounds were filled with water, making it a bitter experience for both book lovers who were out on the New Year's holiday, and sellers. Besides, water dripped through the roof in some cases and damaged the books.
Tirupathi Kiran of Kathaa Prapancham Telugu Publishing House, who had a stall at the fair said the event was a victim of poor management and climate change.
He said, “It is very disappointing, water entered our stalls, they are filled with water. We can see water dripping from the top of the shed. The situation is very bad; about 40 cartons containing books were drenched.”
He said each carton held about 200 books, each costing between Rs 150 and Rs 250. They contained books by Mulapudi Sridevi, Madhurandhakam Rajaram, children stories, the recently published Veetagadi Koduku, actor S.V. Ranga Rao’s written story books. “I was so helpless, even the transport people did not help me. It is very heart breaking for me.”
Asked about the complaint, Chandra Mohan, secretary, Hyderabad Book Fair, said no such incident had been reported to the organisers. “Yesterday the footfall was not as much as we expected. Mostly the publishers are careful about the books and they take precautions as we cannot forecast the weather. Some careless publishers suffered damage to the cartons at the bottom, which will not cause big damage,” said Mr Mohan, shrugging off the complaint.
