CHENNAI: Night-long heavy showers in Chennai have forced a day’s closure of the ongoing annual Chennai Book Fair at Nandanam on Monday. The fair will remain closed on Monday, said organisers, citing seepage of rainwater through the roof into the hall and stalls, damaging books. The B ground which has the fair’s auditorium and parking lot has been flooded.
“It is a first for us to close the book fair because of rain,” said Na Murugan, secretary of Bapasi.The ongoing fair is the 47th edition of the annual event.
The 26th edition of the book fair, held at Quaid-e-Milleth College then, was disrupted when a fire broke out resulting in heavy damage to publishers. In 2016, the book fair was rescheduled to May due to floods in December 2015.
Murugan said the B ground, where the auditorium has been set up, has been inundated, as water from the A ground, where books stalls have been set up, drains into the open space. “We take visitors’ convenience as our top priority and do not want them face hardship in the venue,” he said.
Kavitha Chokkalingam, Bapasi president, says books at a few stalls too were damaged and insurance firms have been apprised of the situation. “We had posted about 20 people to monitor the situation, but it is impossible for them to monitor all 900 book stalls. Since it is a temporary structure, there were leakages in some rows. We are fixing them one after the other,” he said.
The Chennai Book Fair, inaugurated on Wednesday, did a brisk business on Saturday with 10,000 footfalls till evening, but the sales dipped on Sunday as visitors did not venture out in steady rain. The book fair is on till January 21. It stays open to visitors from 2pm to 8.30pm on weekdays and from 11am to 8.30pm on weekends.
“It is a first for us to close the book fair because of rain,” said Na Murugan, secretary of Bapasi.The ongoing fair is the 47th edition of the annual event.
The 26th edition of the book fair, held at Quaid-e-Milleth College then, was disrupted when a fire broke out resulting in heavy damage to publishers. In 2016, the book fair was rescheduled to May due to floods in December 2015.
Murugan said the B ground, where the auditorium has been set up, has been inundated, as water from the A ground, where books stalls have been set up, drains into the open space. “We take visitors’ convenience as our top priority and do not want them face hardship in the venue,” he said.
Kavitha Chokkalingam, Bapasi president, says books at a few stalls too were damaged and insurance firms have been apprised of the situation. “We had posted about 20 people to monitor the situation, but it is impossible for them to monitor all 900 book stalls. Since it is a temporary structure, there were leakages in some rows. We are fixing them one after the other,” he said.
The Chennai Book Fair, inaugurated on Wednesday, did a brisk business on Saturday with 10,000 footfalls till evening, but the sales dipped on Sunday as visitors did not venture out in steady rain. The book fair is on till January 21. It stays open to visitors from 2pm to 8.30pm on weekdays and from 11am to 8.30pm on weekends.