Congress seeks probe into blaze that gutted historic 109-year-old Kolhapur theatre

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Congress has demanded a probe into the massive fire that gutted the iconic Keshavrao Bhosale Theatre, an award-winning 109-year-old heritage building that was constructed by the Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj.

Leader of Opposition (Assembly) Vijay Wadettiwar said the building, steeped in history and symbolised the identity of Kolhapur, had suffered hugely in the blaze.

"This historic heritage building was Kolhapur's identity, which has been reduced to ashes. There has been a great loss of valuables in the theatre. An inquiry should be conducted into the disaster to ascertain was at fault," demanded Wadettiwar.

He also sought compensation for the loss of the building and measures to resurrect the pride of Kolhapur as soon as possible, though there were no fatalities in the blaze that erupted after 9.30 p.m. on Thursday night when it was empty.

Ironically, the fire broke out on the eve of the 134th birth anniversary of the Marathi theatre's earliest icons, singer-actor Sangit-Surya Keshavrao Bhosale -- after whom the building was named -- falling on August 9.

An official of Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) said that on Thursday, a group of workers had completed the preparations for KB's birth anniversary event scheduled on Friday, and left the premises around 8 p.m.

Barely a couple of hours later, the fire started and by early on Friday, the majestic building was reduced to black heap of ashes, smoke emanating from burning embers, with the vicinity resembling a war-zone, as many stunned Kolhapur citizens ventured to view the disaster this morning and vented their emotions on social media.

Taking a serious note of the tragedy, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has directed the civic authorities to submit a renovation plan to rebuild the theatre within a week and the government is likely to sanction an amount of Rs 10 crore for the project.

The theatre, standing beside the Shahu Khasbag Wrestling Stadium – which also suffered considerable damage in Thursday's blaze – were built in 1915, by Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj after his 1912 visit to Europe, and he decided to construct a landmark building for the arts in his kingdom, and named it as Palace Theatre.

Around 2015, the theatre was refurbished at a cost of Rs 10 crore to mark its centennial, keeping the heritage elements intact and rebuilding around it to make it an eye-catching structure which bagged the International Design Academy's top honour (A Design) in 2017 in the Cultural Heritage Design category.