CANACONA
The Kala Rakhon Maand (KRM) has claimed that the Canacona Ravindra Bhavan (Lata Mangueshkar Kalangan) is unfit and unsafe for artistes and audiences.
The Canacona Ravindra Bhavan had been temporarily closed barely nine months after it was inaugurated in August 2024, after pre-monsoon rains in May caused water leakage which damaged furniture in the taluka library block and electrical wiring and equipment in the complex, including the Sanjay Bandekar Auditorium.
The complex was partially opened last week and the Ran-Bhaji festival was conducted at the venue.
During a joint inspection of the complex, Canacona Ravindra Bhavan Member Secretary and Canacona Dy Collector Prataprao Gaonkar informed the KRM led by its Convenor Devidas Amonkar that major civil and electrical issues which had led to the temporary closure of the complex had been resolved, except for 15 per cent of the pending issues with the central air-conditioning unit.
Saish Panandikar complained the walls of the entire complex, including the auditorium, were damp, while Francis Coelho and Cecille Rodrigues pointed out the faulty and uneven wooden stage in the auditorium, making it dangerous to artistes, particularly those who perform their art barefoot.
A number of issues were highlighted which included poor lightning in the auditorium and exhibition rooms, non-availability of space for artistes backstage, unwanted backdoors, non-maintenance of stage entrance height, unsafe women green-rooms, narrow dug-out for band/musicians, placement of speaker on the stage blocking stage view and the faulty numbering of auditorium rows with the alphabet ‘I’ missing from the row.
Gaonkar responded by saying that all issues raised would be forwarded to authorities concerned for rectification.
Damodar Kamat, Sandesh Prabhudesai, Saish Panandikar, Prashanti Talpankar, Rajdeep Naik, Suchita Narvekar, Vishal Pai Kakode, Harshada Kerkar, RBS Komarpant, Kamlakhar Mhalshi and Congress leader Janardhan Bhandari were among those present at the joint inspection.
