Poor internet connection at Kolkata Book Fair, being held in Salt Lake's Central Park in northeast Kolkata, is causing inconvenience to visitors as they are not being able to make online payments for their purchases or book app cabs or bikes from the fairground or just outside it.
An official of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, organisers of the fair, said the presence of so many people at the fairground meant many were trying to access the Net from their phones, resulting in cellphone towers being overworked.
“Apart from that, a jammer has been installed at the fairground for security reasons,” the official said.
Visitors and publishers said wallets and e-payment methods were not working at the fair because of unstable internet connection.
Many of them told The Telegraph on Sunday that booking an app cab or bike was almost impossible for the same reason.
New Town resident Sourav Chatterjee, who visited the fair on Sunday with his wife, said they spent nearly 15 minutes trying to book an app cab, on their way back home, in front of Central Park, the fair venue.
“In order to book an app cab a device needs a stable Net connection. The Net connection at the fairground was poor, because of which we couldn’t book an app cab. We spent 10 minutes walking till tank number 9, where I got back Net connection on my phone,” Chatterjee said.
FD Block resident Sanjana Bhattacharya, who visited the fair on Sunday with friends, said she could not buy two books because she failed to access her mobile wallet to make payment.
“I almost ran out of cash after buying a few books. But I still picked two books as I spotted a QR code pasted in front of the cash counter of a stall. But I failed to make payment because there was no network,” Bhattacharya said.
Publishers and booksellers were a harried lot, too. Ranju Chakraborty, of Treks and Tours, said they lost many customers in the absence of digital payment option. “The internet is not working. We are handing customers our book catalogue and asking them to order online,” Chakraborty said.
A man at the counter of the Rupa & Co stall, too, said they were being bogged down by payment issues because of an unstable internet line.
“This is unfortunate at a time when people are widely using cards and other digital modes of payment,” said a bookseller.