The Nagpur-based organisation the state government is banking on to bring the Book Fair back to the Maidan was the one that had documented the environmental damage caused by the event.

Chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb said on Tuesday that the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) would be asked to suggest measures to hold the fair on the greens next year. The same institute had found in a study during Book Fair 2006 that both suspended particulate matter (SPM) and respirable particulate matter (RPM) in the air around the Victoria Memorial were much higher than the permissible limits (see chart).

SPM refers to overall dust while RPM comprises finer particles that enter the lungs and cause damage, at times irreparable, to the respiratory system.

The study was carried out between January 29 and February 11, while the fair on the adjacent Maidan was held from January 25 to February 5. The NEERI report, published in 2007, had nailed the Book Fair and a children's fair for the alarming rise in air pollution around the Memorial.

“Taking into consideration all available data, the report had made observations on the role of the Book Fair and the other fair in the rise in air pollution,” said Anjali Srivastava, the head of NEERI’s Calcutta zonal laboratory. The “other fair” was held for a day and registered negligible footfall compared with the Book Fair, where the average daily turnout was around 2 lakh.

The chief secretary wrote to the defence ministry on August 25 stating that “part of the Calcutta Maidan where the Book Fair was held in 2006 is the most suitable location”

Deb went on: “In case it is decided to hold the fair on the Maidan, the state will entrust NEERI to lay down detailed guidelines for controlling the pollution level …. (and) prepare an environment impact assessment on the fair.”

Subhash Dutta, whose petition in the high court led to the fair being shifted from the Maidan in 2007, said: “There is no way that the Book Fair can be held on the Maidan without causing serious environmental damage.”