Sangeeta Saikia presenting the slide show. Picture by Biju Boro

Guwahati, Aug. 24: The last slide captured both his persona and his dream: a long shot of Bhabendranath Saikia standing on the terrace of an unfinished building, staring at the blue sky.

A poetic sentence floated into the frame, completing the picture. “The hall will echo with laughter and songs of young voices...and somewhere he will rejoice.”

Aarohan was the filmmaker-writer’s last project, albeit an unfinished one. His family, however, treats it as a priceless legacy.

Making a computerised presentation on the Bhabendranath Saikia Children’s Welfare Trust, family members of the genial genius, who passed away on August 13, today sought contributions from the public to complete the project by the target date of February 20.

The trust, to be housed in a four-storied building, has been conceived to develop a child’s personality in all respects. It will offer sports and Internet facilities, training in arts and crafts and counselling. The building will have a 250-seat auditorium and a museum dedicated to its founder.

Saikia’s wife Preeti burst into tears while describing her husband’s dream project. “He never left anything incomplete. I tried to dissuade him from taking up this ambitious project, prompting him to quip: ‘When I did not have money to buy a cycle, I bought a car’.”

Preeti is the managing trustee of the welfare trust.

The late culture icon’s eldest daughter Sangeeta said donations from the people of Assam were required to complete the project.

“He was a man of little means and contributed to the project from all the honours that he received. We now seek the support and involvement of the people. Even if every household contributes a small amount, we will be able to make his dream come true.”

Sangeeta said donations could be made through cheques drawn in favour of the Dr Bhabendranath Saikia Children Welfare Trust at SBI’s Dispur branch (account number 01000050781).

Saikia had begun work on the trust with the Rs 1 lakh that came with the Assam Valley Literary Award in 2002. The building is located on a two-katha plot of land owned by the Saikia family and the adjacent 12-lecha plot donated by the government. The superstructure of the 16,000-square feet building is complete.

“We have collected Rs 34 lakh, of which Saikia’s family has contributed Rs 10 lakh. The expenditure till now has been Rs 33.3 lakh and we need another Rs 90 lakh to complete the project. We can resume work immediately if we get a minimum of Rs 30 lakh,” Gautam Sarma, a trustee, said.

A construction supervision and development committee has been constituted to supervise the work. Chief secretary J.P. Saikia is its chairperson and Kamrup (metropolitan) deputy commissioner A.K. Absar Hazarika is the convener.

The Saikia family intends to donate the royalty from his writings, Doordarshan serials based on his stories and films to the project. “It will come to about Rs 15 lakh, if we get it on time from the producers and publishers,” Sangeeta said.