Promise not kept but Mysuru man rebuilds gutted library

Syed Ishaq, whose library was gutted in a fire mishap last year, has rebuilt the library with funds raised from donors. The library will be reopened to the public on January 26, to mark Republic Day.

Ishaq has constructed the library building at a cost of Rs 4 lakh and the structure will be declared open by children of the local Kannada medium government school. At present, Ishaq has managed to place 1,800 books in the library and professors of the University of Mysore have promised to donate 6,500 books, said Ishaq.

A massive fire destroyed a couple of thousand books, including Kannada copies of Bhagwad Gita and Quran, on April 9, 2021.

Following the incident, the Mysuru City Corporation, in association with the Department of Public Libraries, had decided to rebuild the library at Rajeev Nagar. But the authorities failed to keep the promise. Thus, Syed, with the support of donors, rebuilt the library.

Fateen Misbah, a software engineer, had launched an online campaign to raise funds and 1,260 persons had donated funds amounting to Rs 20 lakh. But the funds were returned as government bodies came forward to help rebuild the library.

Expressing his displeasure, Syed said the government has not released a single rupee.

“I managed to construct the building with the help of donors. Congress leader B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan donated Rs 2 Lakh, MP Pratap Simha gave Rs 50,000 and Minister S T Somashekar gave Rs 25,000 and a few books. In all, I have received Rs 3.45 lakh,” he said.

Syed has spent Rs 54,000 to get an electricity connection to the building, which has two fans.

The library needs furniture and a rack to display books. But, no funds are available for the purpose, he said.

However, an official said that due to the Covid-19 pandemic and due to shortage of funds, the works were not taken up.

“We will definitely support the good cause and provide necessary facilities to the library in the days to come,” he said.