Sambalpur: The 23rd Sambalpur Book Fair has started on Saturday under the joint initiative of District Culture Council Sambalpur and SETU, a leading social educational organization

Sambalpur: The 23rd Sambalpur Book Fair has started on Saturday under the joint initiative of District Culture Council Sambalpur and Setu, a leading social educational organization. Vssut Vice-Chancellor Prof. Bansidhar Majhi, Ex-Chancellor of Tirupati Central Sanskrit University Prof. Harekrushna Sathpathy, Ex-Chancellor of Berhampur University Prof. Aditya Prasad Padhi and Additional District Governor Ajambar Mohanty inaugurated the Book Fair by ribbon cutting. In the inaugural meeting presided over by SETU President Prof. Minketan Pathi, Chief Guest Prof. Majhi said that the senior citizens of Sambalpur are working very actively in various institutions.

Today’s students use Google Reader instead of reading books, but time will come when they must realize the importance of studying books. Speaker Prof. Sathpathy said, the ancient name of Sambalpur is Hirakhanda. Because every person here is a diamond. There are golden triangles on the coast but gold is always lighter than diamonds. Sambalpur area has real life diamonds. This land is the land of talent. We have to connect with that invisible force and that’s why ‘bridges’ are needed, because bridging works. Where there is no bridge there is no literature. Gangadhar Meher, the son of this soil, said it was an example of this.

Additional District Magistrate Shri Ajambar Mohanty said that the popularity of the book has never decreased or will never decrease. After two years of covid we are all busy in work. This has also affected the administration. Many programs have been successfully conducted by the district administration in the last one month. Efforts will be made by the publishing house to organize this book fair more systematically from next year. Harinarayan Panda, senior member of ‘SETU’, read out the annual report. Member Sachidananda Mohapatra Guest Introduction and Dr. Siddharth Panda delivered the vote of thanks. This year, there are a total of 140 stalls in this book fair. This year some food stalls are also present in the fair.