"The most unfortunate part is that most of us sitting here will regret the biggest mistake” of our lives of missing "the golden opportunity to have the newly built steel and concrete structures which would have lasted for another century” and benefited the future generation, said Rohinton Mehta, chief guest at the Nowroze Baug Play Centre’s 67th annual program at the Sophia Bhabha Auditorium on May 30, 2014. He has been a member of the Play Centre for 60 years and was speaking about the redevelopment plan for the 100-year-old colony which has been a non-starter.
Rohinton Mehta: "worked day and night"
Mehta bemoaned that six years have been wasted and nothing achieved because Nowroz Baug’s residents have been misled by people with little knowledge but much greed who believe they would be able to sway the trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and the Wadia Trust to give them more area and a larger corpus fund. They have failed to understand the truth about the feasibility of the project, the cost of construction and other items which have increased more than three times during the past six years. Who will take responsibility for this? Mehta queried. He and like-minded persons have worked hard for 15 years and spent lakhs of rupees from their personal funds for the Nowroz Baug redevelopment project, he shared.
Mehta mentioned that he and his brother Hormuz have "worked day and night” to make scale drawings of the "futuristic Nowroz Baug” after surveying every square foot of land and all the flats to present the BPP, the Nowroz Baug Committee and architect Hafeez Contractor which were very useful to the latter. Hormuz would fly down from Goa every Friday and work over the weekend for the maintenance of the buildings of Nowroz Baug.
It was Mehta’s fervent hope that the residents of the colony would work together for its redevelopment. Structural audit for buildings over 40 years old has become compulsory and since most of the buildings in Nowroz Baug are over 100 years old, if major structural defects are discovered and the buildings declared beyond repair, it will become very difficult for the BPP and the Wadia Trust who will have no option but to demolish the structures.
Regretting that the BPP had done nothing for the redevelopment of any of the colonies under its care, Mehta said that the BPP was remiss in not making a project report before inviting Nusli and Ness Wadia, Dhun Gagrat and Contractor, and has now realized that the project is not economically viable. (The BPP trustees said they would give the tenants a written proposal regarding the redevelopment, but it never materialized — editors)
In his talk Mehta mentioned that the trustees have not held seminars to find any solution to our declining population but are promoting increasing orthodoxy. At Doongerwadi several trees were destroyed by termites because BPP trustee Khojeste Mistree would not permit anti-termite treatment. Ultimately, he was asked to step down from looking after the holy precinct. Now there is a "ridiculous objection” by some trustees to the 300 trucks of free virgin soil for use at Doongerwadi. Dr Homi Dhalla had had the soil analyzed in a laboratory and it was found to be suitable for use there.
The present trustees are "non-productive” and fight to stop others from doing any worthwhile work, and had stopped work at Vile Parle’s Dhunbai Wadi, said Mehta in his speech. He felt they should resign immediately and hold a new election so that the community may prosper or else the Charity Commissioner could appoint an administrator, which has been unheard of so far. Since the present trustees are incapable of redevelopment work, "we openly offer to work as chief executive officer for any redevelopment project for Parsis at a one rupee salary per year. We promise to take full responsibility to complete” all projects successfully, Mehta concluded.