‘Living some sort of captive life,’ bemoans PM [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

‘Living some sort of captive life,’ bemoans PM

Local February 02, 2019

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina lamented her inability to roam around the Amar Ekushey Book Fair freely, saying that she was now living a life full of restrictions.
‘When I was not in power, I used to come to the book fair and roam around freely. But now, I’m living some sort of a captive life. I don’t have the opportunity to come here. If I want to come here it causes problems for others due to security reasons. Considering public suffering, I’ve to suppress my desire to come here. Though in reality my heart always resides here,’ she said.
Sheikh Hasina was addressing a programme marking the inauguration of the month-long Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela 2019 on the Bangla Academy premises and at adjoining Suhrawardy Udyan in the city.
The theme of this year’s book fair is ‘Bijoy: 1952 to 1971 Ebang Nabaparjay’.
The prime minister said the book fair was not a place for just selling and buying books. ‘We think this book fair is the festival of life for the Bangalees,’ she said.
She emphasised the need for translation of literary and scientific works in Bangla for the development of the country.
She attached importance to translations of local and international books for knowing the world literature and letting others to know the Bangladeshi works.
‘To know the world literature, it’s urgently needed to do more transliterations,’ she said while launching Amar Ekushey Book Fair in Dhaka.
Putting emphasis on knowing history by the new generation, she said the people of the country had earned the independence and the right to speak in their mother tongue through huge sacrifices and struggles.
‘The history of Bengalis is the history of sacrifice, and all of our achievements have been attained through that sacrifice,’ Hasina said.
The prime minister also said although the world is advancing fast and books are now very much available in digital formats, the attraction of books will never wan. ‘The joy of flicking through pages is something else. It can’t be compared with anything else.’
She, however, underscored the need for establishing a digital library for accessing any book from any part of the world.
Two foreign guests — Indian poet Shankha Ghosh and Egyptian writer and poet Mohsin Al Arishi — graced the
opening ceremony and spoke as distinguished foreign guests.
Due to the illness, the speech of Shankha Ghosh was read out by Ramendu Majumder.
State minister for cultural affairs KM Khalid attended the opening ceremony as special guest while Bangla Academy director general Habibullah Siraji delivered the welcome speech with its president Anisuzzaman in the chair.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina also distributed the Bangla Academy Literary Award 2018 at the ceremony.
Four writers and researchers won the award this time. The award winners are Kazi Rosy for poetry, Mohit Kamal for literature, Syed Mohammad Shahed for essay and research and Afsan Chowdhury for research on Liberation War. The winners received a cheque for Tk 2 lakh each at the programme.
Sheikh Hasina also unveiled a book titled ‘Secret Documents of Intelligence Branch on Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’ (Volume 2) at the ceremony.
Later, Hasina visited different stalls at the fair.
Seminars will be held at the main stage of the fair venue at 4:00pm every
day from February 2 to 28 followed by cultural events.
This year, the land earmarked for the fair was expanded to 550,000 square feet, 37,000 more than the previous year. A total of 770 units were allocated to 499 organisations
The authorities allotted a total of 150 units at the Bangla Academy ground to 104 organisatons and 620 at the Suhrawardy Udyan to 395 publishers and book traders.
Last year, the authorities allotted a total of 719 units — 136 at the Bangla Academy ground to 92 organisatons and 583 at the Suhrawardy Udyan to 363 publishers and book traders.
Besides, 24 pavilions have been allocated for 24 publishing houses, including Bangla Academy.
The fair will remain open from 3:00pm to 9:00pm (Sunday to Thursday) while it will remain open from 11:00am to 9:00pm on weekly holidays. On February 21, the fair will remain open from 8:00am to 8:00pm.
The book fair began informally on the Bangla Academy premises in 1972.
In 1978, the academy officially took the responsibility of organising the fair every year.
It was named Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela in 1984 and a guideline was formulated in the same year. The fair venue was extended to Suhrawardy Udyan in 2013 in a bid to accommodate more publishers.