Karnataka Govt Donates Over 8,000 Books To Man Who Lost His Library In Fire Incident

Mysuru Library: The Karnataka government's Public Library Department is going to donate 8243 books to a man who lost his library in Mysuru in a fire incident, Education Minister said on Tuesday.

A 62-year-old man named Syed Ishaq lost his collection of over a hundred books when a fire broke in his library in the Shantinagar area on April 9. Ishaq had collected those over the past 10 years, they also included copies of religious texts such as Bhagwad Gita and the Quran in Kannada scripts.

Karnataka Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, S Suresh Kumar said, "The Public Library Department would provide 8,243 books to Syed Ishaq’s library, which fell prey to the mischief of the miscreants." He added that he sent a proposal to Raja Rammohun Roy library in Kolkata asking them to support Ishaq's library." This foundation from Kolkata, which works under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Culture, would be able to offer good support to Ishaq’s library," he said.

What happened to Syed Ishaq's Mysuru library?

A 35-year-old man was arrested by the Mysuru City Police on April 17, accusing him of carelessly throwing a matchstick after lighting a beedi. The City Police Commissioner Chandragupta said that the matchsticks were a source of fire at Syed Ishaq's library.

The accused man has been identified as Syed Nasir, according to the police he was also inebriated on the night of the incident.

“He (the accused) had lit a beedi before throwing the burning matchstick on the furniture and cushions kept in the open outside a sofa repair shop adjacent to the library. This led to the fire which destroyed the library,” the police officer said. The police said that they were able to recognise the accused man after looking at the CCTV footage.