Malegaon is hosting NCPUL Urdu Kitab Mela for the second time in 10 years

Malegaon: The 24th Urdu Kitab Mela, Urdu Book Fair, of National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) is inaugurated in Malegaon Saturday December 18, 2021.

The 9-day National Kitab Mela was inaugurated “virtually” from New Delhi by Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Union Minister of State for Education, Government of India.

Besides local dignitaries, NCPUL Director, Dr. Shaikh Aquil Ahmad, and noted journalist, writer and playwright, Hasan Kamal, were present in the inaugural function.

Urdu Kitab Mela Glimpses

Local MP Subhash Bhamre had given nod to his presence for the inaugural ceremony. He however could not make it to the occasion because of the on-going Winter Session of the parliament, an office bearer of NCPUL told ummid.com.

“We want to make this Kitab Mela a useful yet memorable event for the people of Maharashtra, especially those in Malegaon”, NCPUL Director Dr. Shaikh Aquil Ahmad said.

He said the Council had received applications from more than 300 publishers. “However because of space limitation the council approved the applications of only 163 publishers”, he said.

All 163 book publishers who came from different parts of India, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Aurangabad and other places were present with a good collection of books on the first day of the National Urdu Kitab Mela. Besides them almost all of the local publishers have booked stalls for the Kitab Mela.

Malegaon is hosting NCUPL Urdu Kitab Mela for the second time in 10 years. Earlier, NCPUL Urdu Kitab Mela was organised in Malegaon in January 2014. On both the occasions, Malegaon Education Society (MES) coordinated with the NCPUL to organise the national level event.

The Urdu Kitab Mela 2021 is organised amidst Coronavirus scare. Because of the Pandemic, the local administration in Malegaon was reluctant to grant the necessary permission for the event. The MES team led by Imtiyaz Khaleel however was able to get the sanctions after a lot of efforts.

[Malegaon Urdu Kitab Mela on the first day. (Photo: ummid.com)]

“The local administration has given us conditional permission, that too only two days before the inauguration. Besides restriction on timing till 06:00 pm only, the administration has also declined us permission to hold cultural events during the 9-day book fair”, Imtiyaz Khaleel said.

The cultural programs organised on the side-lines of the Urdu Kitab Mela help organisers drive visitors and book lovers to the event.

The Urdu Kitab Mela inaugurated today will end on December 26, 2021. The organisers have made all the necessary arrangements to maintain the Covid-19 protocol and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as mandated by the state and union governments.