MYSURU: After an overwhelming response to Syed Isaaq's plight after his library was torched by miscreants, attracting solidarity from across the globe with fundraising campaign touching close to Rs 29 lakh and garnering the attention of politicians and ministers, the rebuilding of the library is now caught up in confusion between the authorities and donors.
The confusion was triggered after authorities released a press statement on Thursday stating that a full-fledged library will come up at the proposed MUDA site which will be earmarked by MUDA to the department of public libraries but the cost for construction of building will be borne by donations made by different individuals and organisations.
Officials from Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), Mysuru Urban Development (MUDA) and the city central library authority who visited the proposed site took a decision to rebuild it to the past glory of Isaaq's library and said he would be made the incharge of the library as long as he wishes to take care of it.
Adding to it, the authorities on Thursday issued a press statement opening a separate bank account and appealed interested donors or organisers to contribute to rebuilding 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 a honorarium to Isaaq every month.
However, the move of authorities to restore the building utilising the contributions made by donors seems to have not gone well with donors.
In addition to it, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar on Wednesday issued a statement and has written to the director of 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.
There were many lobbying in this case as even politicians turned up offering to rebuild the structure and even contributed money towards it but the money raised from the fundraising campaign was the highest.
Following many such decisions by the government over the last two days, several donors who have contributed are stating that if the government wants to rebuild it, they should build it on their own and that it should not be done with the donors' money, as it would lead to a situation where the government could later take credit for it.
"We are sceptical about the use of funds. We have heard about corruption even in the construction of toilets. How can they assure that every penny contributed by us is accounted for. We all pooled in money to support Isaaq and help him rebuild the library and we don't want the government to take credit for it," said one of the donors.
When TNIE reached out to Fathaheen Misbah, who set up a online fundraiser on popular crowdfunding site Keto.org which is now inching at 29L, 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."