Mysuru: Rs 20 lakh collected via fundraiser to help rebuild library owned by daily-wage worker

After a library owned by a daily wage worker in Mysuru was burnt down on Friday, a fundraiser was set up to help him rebuild the library. As of Monday, Rs 20 lakh has been collected for the work.

After miscreants burnt down the library set up by a daily wage worker, Syed Issaq, in Karnataka’s Mysuru, a fundraiser has been started with the goal of raising money and helping him rebuild the library.Syed Isaaq, a daily wage worker, had set up a library in Rajiv Nager, near the Ammar Masjid in Mysuru, with the intention to encourage people to inculcate the habit of reading. On a daily basis, around 100-150 people would visit this library.Since 2011, Isaaq had managed to increase his collection of books, primarily in Kannada, to around 11,000. The collection included around 3,000 copies of Bhagavad Gita, over 1,000 copies of Quran and Bible, and thousands of books on various genres sourced from donors.On Friday, Isaaq was informed about the fire at the library. When he rushed to the spot, the library was already reduced to ashes"It was in the wee hours of the morning when a man living near the library premises informed me that a fire had broken inside. But it was too late by the time I got there. I could do nothing but stand there helplessly as the flames only got higher and engulfed the whole building," Isaaq said.He added that '"A wealth of knowledge that I spent so much time putting together has been lost."The Udayagir police arrived at the scene soon after and have now registered an FIR and opened an investigation into the incident of fire.However, Issaq refuses to give up and said, “Yes, the library has been burnt down, but my spirit hasn't and I will rebuild it all over again. I couldn't go to school or have the privilege of learning to read and write as a child, which is probably why I am so passionate about others learning to do so.” To help Issaq rebuild the library, a fundraiser has been set up with the goal to raise Rs 25 lakh. As of Monday evening, Rs 20 lakh has been raised to help him out.