After a rain-marred beginning, the fair finally got off to a faltering start on Wednesday. More than 80% of the stalls are now ready. The rest are expected to be in place by Thursday afternoon. Construction work will continue through the night to meet the deadline. "Unless there is more rain, we hope to have a full-fledged book fair from Thursday. Work remains to be done but that won't come in the way of the fair," said guild official Anil Acharya.

Water, mud and debris were cleared from the fair ground throughout the day. As many as 20 truckloads of sand were sprinkled to dry the waterlogged lanes. "The drying operation has been successful. Today, we had the highest number of visitors till now. We are expecting a good turnout from tomorrow," added Acharya.

Fair tickets will be sold at the ground and from the Howrah, Sealdah and Ultadanga stations. They will also be available at 22 branches of the United Bank of India across the city.