Wheelchair ramps have been made mandatory for every stall that will be set up at the 46th edition of the Kolkata International Book Fair.
The Publishers and Booksellers Guild that organises the book fair has issued a guideline to all those who have been allotted stalls as well as the décorators setting up the stalls to ensure that wide ramps are in place that can facilitate easy movement of wheelchairs.
The guild’s Tridib Kumar Chatterjee said that this was the first time that they had made it mandatory for all the stalls to have wheelchair ramps.
There will be 900 stalls, that includes 200 for little magazines.
According to Chatterjee, they had been getting a lot of requests from people across the state to have stalls that can be accessed by people in wheelchairs as well as those who are specially-abled.
The ramps will be built in accordance with guidelines laid by the Wheelchair Association of India, Chatterjee said.
“These ramps will not only help those with special needs but anyone with mobility problems, including senior citizens. This is the first time we have taken such an initiative and hopefully this will help many more people reach the stalls,” Chatterjee said.
Rina Sen, the honorary secretary of the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, said that only ramps leading to the stalls might not be enough.
“Ideally, the entire fairground should be smooth to facilitate easy movement for wheelchairs and those using crutches or walkers to move. Moreover, there should be special slots for specially-abled people or the elderly who are wheelchair-bound. The entry gates and exit gates too must be equipped with ramps,” Sen said.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the 46th edition of the Kolkata International Book Fair on January 30. The fair will be open to visitors between January 31 and February 12.
This year Spain is the focal country of the fair.
Keeping the theme country in mind, one of the gates will be a replica of Toledo Gate of Spain.
There will be nine gates in place and among the other gates, there will be Biswa Bangla Gate and Najrul’s Agnibina Gate.
The 9th Kolkata Literature Festival, which is part of the fair, will be held on the same premises from February 9 to 11.
The state transport department has decided to run special buses from all rail heads like Sealdah and Howrah stations to the fairground in Salt Lake.
The East-West Metro service from Sealdah to Karunamoyee is also expected to ferry a lot of fair visitors.
Organs donated
A nurse at a city hospital gave consent to donate the organs of her mother, who was declared brain dead at the same hospital, on Friday. The woman’s heart, liver, kidneys and cornea were harvested on Saturday.
Tapati Kulia, 50, was admitted to Calcutta Medical Research Institute with a brain stroke on January 6, said a CMRI official.
“I am happy that my mother will be able to give life to so many,” said Tapati’s daughter, Ria, a nurse at CMRI.