Calcutta, Feb. 1: The book fair has lost Calcutta but gained the Bengal government, a stadium and a bouquet of attendant freebies.

Boi Mela 2008 — an alternative to the 33rd Calcutta Book Fair — will be held in Salt Lake Stadium for 10 days from March 1 with the state government playing guardian angel.

The youth and sports department, headed by Subhas Chakraborty, will be the anchor of the show that will be conducted by five different bodies representing publishers and book sellers in the state.

The Publishers and Booksellers Guild, the organiser of the Book Fair evicted from Park Circus Maidan by the high court, could be a participant but not a prime mover so that the government can seek protection from charges of favouring a particular group.

But the shower of favours will be as heavy as before.

“The department will waive fees for space and water. There will be no charge for the police force,” said minister Chakraborty, the moving force behind the alternative fair.

“I will even ask the CMC and the Salt Lake Municipality to not levy charges. It’s a moment of crisis and the state government has merely stepped in to ensure that the fair is held,” he added.

Asked how much money the government will spend on the fair, Chakraborty said: “Why worry about money? Taka to bhutey dei (money is no matter).”

Even if discounts are given, space at Salt Lake Stadium costs Rs 1 lakh a day. Transformers for ensuring uninterrupted power supply will run up a bill of Rs 15-20 lakh, excluding electricity tariff. The expected deployment of 200 policemen would have cost at least Rs 6 lakh.

Chakrabarty said a steering committee with members from the five bodies, including the Paschim Banga Prakashak Sabha and the Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association of Bengal, would be set up.

The guild has been offered a berth but it will decide tomorrow whether to accept.

The committee, the office of which will be housed at Netaji Indoor Stadium, will work out visitors’ fee and timings. “We will ensure that there are adequate number of buses to ferry book-lovers to the ground,” Chakraborty said.

The dissidents in the guild had sought CPM state secretary Biman Bose’s help yesterday, apparently at the behest of Chakraborty, to ensure that the chief minister agreed to the fair being held in the transport minister’s fief. Chakraborty had met the chief minister yesterday.

The guild was initially reluctant but secretary Tridib Chatterjee today called on Chakraborty at the minister’s house, triggering a series of meetings with government officials which eventually led to the announcement of the fair.

The high court has allowed a petition against the organisers of the symbolic Book Fair on the Maidan.