The rumors had been circulating for some time. Parsiana asked two trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) in mid-February if it was true the solar panels at Doongerwadi were non-functional. We received no response. Then on February 27, 2025 The Free Press Journal (FPJ) broke the story that the panels installed over 20 years ago have been nonfunctional for around the past four years.
A solar panel at Doongerwadi
A letter signed by 16 community members dated February 19 circulated on WhatsApp by Godrej Baug resident Dr Viraf Kapadia, stated: "The present board was approached to repair and restore (the panels) but lack of funds was stated as a reason for not repairing the same.” The signatories said they had a donor for "at least one of the (three) dakhmas… Awaiting your permission.”
The 50 to 55-acre estate atop Malabar Hill is managed by the BPP whose chairman Viraf Mehta told the daily, "We will consult the high priests before we do anything. The existing system is functioning without any hiccups even in the absence of the solar panels. We can install the solar panels ourselves if we have to.” The estate suffered a deficit of Rs 2.92 crore (USD 335,020) in the accounting year 2023-2024 (see "A profitable Punchayet,” Editorial Viewpoint, Parsiana, December 21, 2024-January 6, 2025). The tight lipped BPP trustees, who claim to be preservers of the religious traditions and customs of the community, as a practice impart very little information on developments, especially on sensitive subjects.
Mehta made no mention of the nonfunctioning of the panels at the Global Working Group/Global Council of Zoroastrians Trust meeting on February 2, in Bombay. Zoroastrian corpses traditionally and scripturally were meant to be eaten by carrion. In the absence of vultures, the traditionalists said dehydration by the sun’s rays directed on to corpses by solar panels was acceptable. Dehydration by the sun’s rays is not mentioned in the Vendidad, the text that details how bodies are to be disposed. In the monsoons, however, the solar panels are ineffective. Fortunately, less than two bodies a day are consigned to the dakhmas or Towers of Silence, hence the stench of rotting corpses is not as offensive as it could have been if more bodies were consigned.