OFFICES IN RAJWADA

NO Water & No Lavatory
Joint Boiler Director, Kolhapur Mr. V. M. Barmate, praised me and welcomed my presence by giving Bookey in his chamber. In picture Mr. S. B. Despande, Dy. Director, Boiler is standing behind and giving his appreciable hand.
Mr. Borkar, journalist & Motivator recollected the same premises he had visited 3 decades before when this office was started. The office hangs it’s black background white board existed in the same row there with others four to five offices in Marathi ( निरीक्षक, बाष्पके व धूम्र उपद्रव, कोल्हापूर, महाराष्ट्र राज्य ) i. e. office of the Inspector of Boiler & Steam under department of Labour & Employment in 1988. This newly opened office then was under the Deputy Inspector of Boiler & Steam, Pune.
One thing that was noticed by me then was that the office of “UPDRAV” got premises in the Rajwada, Bhavani Mandap, within the compound of Mahalaxmi Temple.
I, for the first time came to Kolhapur from Pune when ” BASPUPADRAV” Inspector Mr. D.S.Sawakhande received me near the Kolhapur Collectorate Building, Kolhapur. I reached Kolhapur… but was able to reach after the office hours. The road from Pune was with many many patches with holes making the ST driver to make the speed slow to reach safely. He was making his speed low when the other vehicle was on its way from opposit direction. The road used to be narrow and width of it may be more than half of that of today’s two way four lines road.
That time only one communication facility was there and that was a fitted wire of
Bharat Sanchar Nigam registered Telephone. BSL’s Instruments used to be fitted with wire and at the authorised space under the BSNL authority. The phone was movable around five feet from its fitted switch (DP). If you have to communicate some message then you should be at the radius of 5 feet at one of the receivers or at the calling instruments.
Mr. Sawakhande, waited for my bus to get in Kolhapur-Bus-Stand. Asked his officer friend to stay there near the BSNL KALA DABBA (INSTRUMENTS) TELEPHONE to get my message. I could reach there at the communicated premises after seven, meet him and just walked up to the Kolhapur Circuit House, from there on foot. Because of not that of rikshaw availability there… No. “NO” sir, because I were having limited money to spend in those days. That I calculated it before the journey and this auto rickshaw fair to the Circuit House was not included in it.
The next day I visited Mahalaxmi Temple and the Boiler office there. It is still in the same congested place. Office is in housed of one time Rajwada at “Bhavani Mandap Premises” after almost three decades. At that time Boiler officer were not having his own vehicle to give me a lift up to circuit House. But now these boiler officers have got their own vehicles to get insight of those narrow streets office where hundreds of cars stand in Qs…make this officers a difficult task to reach offices at the scheduled time. I hope a collector of Kolhapur city might have not changed these offices still because POOJA SAMUGREE might going to be served for the Pooja purposes by these officers. Today also the Temple is there and these offices are still there in the same time same time Rajwada of Bhavani Mandap. It is Old Two Stories House, with a well in middle, in fact two people in hand to hand together could find difficulty to walk insight of this narrow 10X7 black stone house. Nowadays side bars are fitted in all the offices for those differently able persons to walk have been neglected in this old building. It is difficult for any one handicap who wants to climb these stare steps. It is of Black Stone ladder, equal to two natural steps of today’s ladders… you will have to take those two steps to climb … bend your body first on these ladder before bending down to so called the officers. Takes a pause on each step and then climbed on. This stone ladder is there in existence today as well, in Bhavani Mandap offices building. Making it difficult to climb in the offices situated in this Rajwada.
_ Sharad Borkar