Coal India marks 50th Foundation Day
The Coal India Limited (CIL) on Monday marked its 50th Foundation Day at its headquarters in Kolkata.
Dasgupta, the well-known heritage bookstore in the city, is going to open its outlet in south Kolkata on 1 May.
Set up in 1886, the 138-year-old bookstore in College Street received heritage status in 2023. This is for the first time when such a venture has been taken.
The new outlet will be set up on the ground floor of the ancestral house of Sir Asutosh Mookerjee in south Kolkata. Asutosh Mookerjee (1864-1924) was a judge of the Calcutta High Court and vice-chancellor of Calcutta University (1906- 1914 and 1921-23).
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The initiative to have the outlet on the ground of the house was taken by Justice (Retd) Chittotosh Mookerjee, former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court.
Aurabinda Dasgupta said, “This is for the first time when an outlet will be set up outside the main shop on College Street.”
Over the past 138 years, the bookstore has catered to all sections of students and scholars. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen had received a book coupon from the bookstore when he was a student of Presidency College.
The book store, which used to import books, has a huge stock of books and a library on the first floor where people can go and read books.
Apart from selling books, Dasgupta has been associated with publication for many years. It has published a book titled In Search of an Identity: History of Football On Colonial Calcutta by Soumen Mitra, former commissioner of city police. Recently, it has brought a book on the history of Chandernagore College. This is the only college in India which had remained closed for 23 years because of the alleged association of students in the freedom movement.
The opening of the new book outlet in south Kolkata by a heritage bookseller shows that people are still interested in reading books.
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