This story is from May 25, 2020

Kolkata: Cyclone-hit booksellers on College Street get students’ help

Students of Presidency University as well as Calcutta University have come forward to help the book sellers on College Street which was ravaged by Cyclone Amphan last week leaving the books floating in water and blowing away the stalls.
Kolkata: Cyclone-hit booksellers on College Street get students’ help
Book sellers drying their books as they got drained in water after the cyclone Amphan, in Kolkata on Sunday. (Photo: ANI)
KOLKATA: Students of Presidency University as well as Calcutta University have come forward to help the book sellers on College Street which was ravaged by Cyclone Amphan last week leaving the books floating in water and blowing away the stalls.
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The network of students who came together in March to help those affected by the lockdown economically will reach out to student community and the civil society and act as a pressure group and prevail over government and publishers for support to rehabilitate hundreds of booksellers who have lost both their stock and establishment in the cyclone last week.

Strong winds completely decimated many stalls and water gushed into the shops in the iconic book market in central Kolkata. The next day, books were floating on the waterlogged street.
Many book stalls on College Street that attract huge number of school and college going students have ceased to exist after strong winds blew away the structures while other owners have lost a big part of their stock to the accumulated water. Even bigger book shops have lost stocks worth lakhs after water seeped into their establishments. Many of them kept the books on the pavements and on the carriageway to dry.
A group of students from both the universities which are a landmark on College Street visited the shop owners to assess the quantum of loss and figure out the nature of support most of them would need to get back on their feet and restart their business.

The pictures of books floating in waterlogged streets and helpless booksellers ruing their losses, soon after the cyclone struck, went viral and send shockwaves across the city.
“We still do not know the exact quantum of the loss as many booksellers who stay far away from College Street have not been able to access their shops. But according to a preliminary survey done by the students of Calcutta and Presidency University each bookseller has incurred losses of up to Rs 1 lakh, including damage to their shops and their stock. Even the bigger publishers and booksellers have suffered but the extent is not very high,” said Ahan Karmakar, a student of Presidency University who is also a part of Quarantined Student Youth Network which has been operating multiple kitchens across the state to provide cooked meals to those affected by the lockdown economically.
The students have already shared bank details on various social media platforms requesting everybody to contribute. The proceeds will go towards rehabilitating the booksellers who have been impacted by Amphan.
College street, also known as boipara (book-mart), is hub of Kolkata’s student and literary crowd. It is the largest second-hand book market in the world and largest book market in India.
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