The curtain of the month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair drops today (March 2) on the premises of Bangla Academy at the Suhrawardy Uddyan in Dhaka. Meanwhile, the time of the fair was extended by two days to fulfill the demand of the publishers. It was expected that sales would be satisfactory on Friday but on Thursday night, the mourning shadows fell on the fair due to the fire in the multi-storey building on Bailey Road. So, the fair was not as crowded as before on Friday. There was also a shadow of mourning among the writers and publishers. Today (March 2) the last day of book fair, publishers hopes that people will gather the fair again. According to the Bangla Academy information centre, the number of new books in this year's book fair is more than 3,800. About 219 new books introduced to the fair on the extended day.  

About the corruption of purchasing curtain for Faridpur Medical College Hospital, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, price of one curtain is 37 lakh taka! ‘Pillow scam’ of Rooppur is defeated by the ‘curtain scandal’. He said these at a discussion organized to mark the tenth death anniversary of former finance minister M Saifur Rahman at Jatiya Press Club on Friday. Mirza Fakhrul said, Saifur Rahman was a patriot. Politician like him never destroyed interest of the country to allow himself or his party men get benefitted. If persons like Saifur Rahman are available then the Rampal thermal power plant would not be constructed. He said, the government permitted banks like mushrooms. Today’s newspaper said that Hallmark will be given chance. That means looters are being permitted. This is the key character of this government. They are the looters. The BNP Secretary General said, still foreigners believe that if Ziaur Rahman was not born than the country would be a failed state. He said, the government is keeping Begum Khaleda Zia captive for one reason. If she is freed than no looting will take place. She will not allow ruining people’s rights. She will prevent it taking all people along with her. Senior leaders of BNP including standing committee members Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, vice chairmen Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yousuf, Shamsuzzaman Dudu were present at the discussion. AH