Mysuru: Row over Rs 29 lakh crowd-funding for bibliophile's library restoration

MYSURU: This Mysuru bibliophile Syed Isaaq who has earned wider attention after his public library of thousands of books went up in flames recently, is in a dilemma.

Following torching of his famous library, the online fundraising campaign to rebuild the library has received an overwhelming response from across the globe as donors donated close to Rs 29 lakh. Syed Isaaq has also garnered the attention of politicians and ministers. But it is now caught up in confusion between the Mysuru civic authorities and the donors.

The confusion was triggered after local authorities released a statement saying that a full-fledged library will be built at the proposed Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) with the funds raised from donors and organisations.

Officials from Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and the city central library authority who visited the proposed site took a decision to rebuild it and revive the glory created by Isaaq. They even announced that he would be made the in charge of the library as long as he wanted.

The statement also spoke of opening of a separate bank account and appealed to interested donors or organisers to contribute towards rebuilding of a state-of-the-art library and said the contribution would be used for construction of the library while the remaining amount would be deposited in a bank to give as an honorarium to Isaaq every month.

This has raised questions about the propriety of the authorities' decision to use the money contributed by donors. Several donors who have contributed are stating that if the government wants to rebuild it, they should do it on their own and that it should not be done with their money, as it would lead to a situation where the government could later take credit for it.

In addition to it, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar has also issued a statement and has written to the director of the public libraries department asking them to send a proposal to the Raja Ram Mohan Roy Library Foundation, a government of India undertaking, to see if any grants can be sanctioned towards it.

Reacting on the issue, Fathaheen Misbah, who has set up an online fundraiser on popular crowdfunding site Keto.org which is now itching towards Rs 29 lakh, said, "The funds were generated to create a public initiative to rebuild the library.

Now, as the government has taken initiative to restore it to glory, it may be more apt to go back to all the donors to seek the public opinion on it and get back on the further course of action. Also, we have told Ketto to end the campaign."

The library that housed over 11,000 books, was the brainchild of a drainage cleaner Syed Issaq, 62, who had built it in a low-income area of Mysuru to spread literacy. Within 48 hours of the fundraiser going live on Ketto, the campaign collected around Rs 25 lakh.