World Book Fair: Publishers face shoplifting issues

New Delhi: Amidst the maddening rush of bookworms at the ongoing World Book Fair, some of the book stores are facing the issue of shop-lifting.

The 44th edition of the book fair, which is organised at Pragati Maidan has got over more than 2,500 stalls.

Some of the publishing houses which are drawing huge rush of visitors like Penguin, Harper Collins are finding it difficult to keep an eye on every person entering the stall.

"Every day there are more than 25 cases when we have caught people for shop-lifting. We have our limited staff and looking after every visitor is not possible. Last year we had to face a loss of Rs 5 lakh", Ranjan from Penguin told IANS.

Though Penguin has installed a machine detector, but according to the publishing house people are still managing to escape after shop-lifting.

"Shop-lifting unfortunately happens every year, especially on weekends. The organisers are also pretty much aware but they have not shown any concern to resolve the issue," Neeraj from Harper Collins said.

"The actual amount of loss of books due to shop-lifting is found after we count the books when the event gets over. Last year, we discovered that many books have been shop-lifted. We are also planning to install machine detector from next year," Jitendra Nagar from Speaking Tiger added.

According to the organisers, there are CCTV cameras inside the premise and the ITPO officials are watching the videos.

"There is a police van inside the premise where the stall owners can come and lodge a complaint. But keeping an eye on every individual is not possible. And this happens every year," said Kanchan, organiser of the event.

The book fair, which started on January 7, will continue till January 15, 2017.