Patna: CM Nitish Kumar on Friday inaugurated the Patna Book Fair at Gandhi Maidan here. Organised under the aegis of the Centre for Readership Development (CRD), the fair will continue till Dec 17.
After the inauguration, the CM visited the stalls set up by various publishers at the book fair. He was accompanied by deputy chief minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, vice-chairman of the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority Udaykant Mishra, both principal secretaries to the CM, Deepak Kumar and S Sidhartha, and many other senior officials.
The theme of this year's book fair is ‘Tree, water, life and protection of environment'.
The CM also inaugurated a painting exhibition and a photo exhibition-cum-awareness campaign based on ‘Developed India @ 2047' by cutting the traditional ribbons.
Earlier, the members of the book fair's organising committee welcomed the CM by presenting him with a plant and a book. The CM also inspected the stalls set up by various departments, including the revenue and land reforms, labour resources, social welfare, science, technology and technical education, and the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority.
The stall set up by the state's land and revenue department has become the centre of attraction at the book fair, as the department has made arrangements to provide maps of all revenue villages. The department's additional chief secretary, Deepak Kumar Singh, welcomed Nitish at the stall and provided detailed information to the CM regarding the services and facilities being offered to people related to the ongoing special land survey in the state.
While visiting different stalls at the book fair, the CM said, "Life will be secure only if water and greenery are preserved, because life is possible in between the water and greenery. We started the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Mission in 2019 with an aim to protect life by preserving water and greenery across the state."
Earlier, the book fair convener Amit Jha welcomed the CM and the deputy CM with a souvenir.