The reason why the sanitary napkin stall at the book fair was closed

After various discussions on social media regarding the closure of sanitary napkin stalls at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair, Bangla Academy Director General Professor Mohammad Azam has explained the matter in a written statement.

Bangla Academy said that there is no question of any hesitation about the spread and use of sanitary napkins.

Bangla Academy says that an issue of the book fair’s merchandising has been presented in a different way due to being a sensitive issue.

Bangla Academy Director General said, ‘An issue related to the sale of sanitary napkins and diapers at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair organized by Bangla Academy has attracted the attention of many people. Many people have expressed their anger to them on social media and over the phone. In this context, it has become necessary to provide details about the matter.’

In the statement of Bangla Academy Director General, presented in a press release, it was said, ‘Although Bangla Academy is the organizer, the necessary work of the book fair is done by the event management organization. This time, Dreamer Donkey has been given this responsibility. Event management companies work with the help of sponsors. However, they have to work according to the rules of the fair.

This time, the event management company has violated several policies in terms of the number and type of sponsors. One of them is arranging for product marketing in various places of the fair without taking permission. We have been preventing this from the beginning. But they have violated the rules on various pretexts.’

Bangla Academy says, ‘Regarding sanitary napkins and diapers, they had told us that they would provide these products to women and children free of cost by keeping them next to the washrooms. But the fair authorities found that they were selling some other products along with these two products. As a result, they were asked to close the stalls. Not only sanitary napkins; this action has been taken in the case of some other products including diapers, pastes and brushes.

The Director General of Bangla Academy said, ‘The event management company was not keeping its promises. Bangla Academy closed the two stalls on its own initiative for three days in the middle. At their request, only some children’s products such as paper, pencils, and pens were allowed to be sold in the children’s corner of the book fair.’

He said, ‘In such a situation, the event company said that they were in danger because they had an agreement with the sponsor company.’

The director general of the Bangla Academy said that the academy has nothing to do with this agreement.

Regarding the letter circulated on social media, the Bangla Academy says that they did not give this letter.

The Bangla Academy said that they said that they would give a letter to the sponsor company, where it would be said that selling napkins would cause problems. The director general of the Bangla Academy only signed the letter in agreement to make their work easier. The Bangla Academy did not give this letter.

And no one told the Bangla Academy to stop selling sanitary napkins. We talked about many products. But various parties, including the event, sponsors, have made the issue of napkins the main one.

Regarding sanitary napkins, Bangla Academy says, we want to make it clear that there is no question of Bangla Academy having any hesitation about the spread and use of sanitary napkins. One issue of the book fair’s commercialization has become a sensitive issue and has been presented in a different way.

Proof of this, on the one hand, we have taken the same measures for many other products. On the other hand, we have asked the event to distribute sanitary napkins as needed as a courtesy.

Bangla Academy said that there was a system of distributing various such emergency supplies as a courtesy at the book fair before.

Expressing regret over the situation that arose, the Director General of Bangla Academy said, “We are also ensuring that the event organization will provide free necessary sanitary napkins next to the washrooms.”

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