Publishers at the Chennai Book Fair claim they are facing considerable losses as their books were damaged due to rain that lashed the city on Monday.
The rain that Chennai saw, beginning on Saturday night, left the grounds in YMCA campus in a dire state. The sand ground had become sludge, causing the people difficulty in reaching the fair. The rain water had also seeped through the structure, leaving some of the stalls drenched and books damaged.
Due to this, for the first time since its inception, the Chennai Book Fair took a break since its opening on January 3 to attend to the repairs. Recalling the only other time the book fair took a break, news reader K. Nijanthan said that it was during the fire in 1993 that broke out on the fair grounds in Quaid-e-Millath Government College for Women. “My books were damaged in that fire,” he said.
However this time, the publishers said that the measures that were taken to repair the damage could have been taken beforehand, to prevent the losses. “We have suffered a loss of over ₹1 lakh. As a small publisher, we are not sure how we can manage it,” said Jeeva Karikalan, owner of Yaavaram Publishers.
Now, as the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India make further arrangements to remedy the damage caused by the rain such as putting up a tarpaulin on the roof and clearing a pathway for the visitors, many publishers question why it could not have been done at the beginning of the fair.
Mr. Jeeva also added that the insurance would not cover these losses as it was termed a man-made disaster. “However, BAPASI president has assured us some support so we are hopeful,” he added.
The Chennai Book Fair is scheduled to function as per plan from Tuesday onwards. “Only about two-three stalls were damaged due to the rain. All the arrangements have been made and we have also updated the measures. It will resume as per plan,” said Senthilnathan, executive member, BAPASI.
