With the Rent Control Act preventing meaningful increase in rents, trustees look for other ways to augment their revenue. Thus when some Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees decided to earn additional income by permitting an advertising film shoot in Rustom Baug on April 23 and 24 this year other trustees objected stating that the serenity of the sylvan Byculla residential enclave would be disturbed. The Residents’ Association, however, favored the shoot, as half the Rs 8,00,000 (US $ 12,900) income would accrue to them, the BPP retaining the other half. The seven trustees will now debate whether to permit future film shootings in the colonies or not.
An earlier film shoot at Khareghat Colony caused a furor when vanity vans and portable toilets were placed on the neighboring Doongerwadi land.
A similar controversy had risen around a decade ago when a proposal to rent out space for a hoarding at Doongerwadi spiraled into a major public controversy. To make matters worse, trees were pruned to enhance the visibility of the hoarding. The dispute ended up in the courts like so many others concerning environment conservation versus commercial development.
The BPP derives most of its income from the transfer of flats in the 5,500 or so housing units it controls. Flats in particular baugs are transferred at a hefty premium, half of which goes to the outgoing tenant/licensee and half to the landlord, though a large portion of the amount is treated as a deposit. In some other BPP colonies flats are transferred without any charge. The BPP now bears 50% of the cost of repairs as versus 40% earlier.
The BPP approach has been criticized by many as a commercialization of charity but aside from flat transfers and interest on deposits, the BPP has almost no source of income, donations having dried up a long time ago. Had the BPP’s image not been so tarnished, donors may have continued to give and the trust would not have had to resort to commercialization.
In contrast, the Garib Zarthostiona Rehethan Fund bears the full cost of repairs at Murzban Colony at Lal Chimney. Additionally this trust does not levy any charges for transfer of tenancy nor charge the incoming tenant a hefty fee or deposit. But deep pockets are required for this.
On April 19 residents of the Mancherji Joshi Colony (MJC) at Dadar took out a procession along their main thoroughfare to oppose proposed hawking zones in residential areas of the Colony (see "To protest and protect," pg 28). As the local catalyst Mithoo Jesia observed there was a portion on the eastern extreme of the Colony that is demarcated as a commercial zone with which the residents have no gripe. What they did not want were hawkers vending their wares in the residential areas. Ironically neither did the hawkers. They wanted to be in the commercial area where footfalls and customers are ensured.
In an article "Market cities: Barcelona offers a hopeful glimpse of the future/project for public spaces," on the Project for Public Spaces website (pps.org) the writer notes Barcelona "is perhaps the best example of a modern Market City. They have an incredible thriving network of around 43 permanent public markets… Residents rank their public markets as the second most valuable public service after libraries. No matter where you are in Barcelona you are never more than 10 minutes from a market." Markets act as "catalysts for creating centers in neighborhoods that have lost their sense of place."
The MJC is unique in that it is not gated and its gardens and roads can be used and enjoyed by all, irrespective of caste, color or creed. Thus the colonyites also received the backing of the Hindu Colony residents from across the iconic Five Gardens. Additionally, unlike other colonies that are controlled by one trust, many of the buildings in the Colony are independently owned. The upkeep of the gardens is also the responsibility of the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) and a vigilant citizenry can ensure a minimum level of maintenance is adhered to and vendors and stalls kept at bay.
Certainly the Five Gardens are better maintained than many non-Wadia, BPP baugs. The Wadia baugs were designed keeping in mind the quality of life of its residents. Thus you have gardens, lawns, open spaces, amenities, trees, airy and well lit flats. Several of the other colonies look as though they were designed for the economically disadvantaged who should be grateful to just have a roof over their heads.
In overpopulated, underfinanced and technologically impaired urban concentrations like Bombay, planning is often given a go by. And whatever plans are proposed are riddled with errors, deliberate or otherwise. "In the earlier DPs (Development Plans) innumerable plots were reserved as gardens, but none of them have come up even after decades," moans noted architect and structural engineer Sam Rao. He believes the BMC is "making a mockery of the heritage of this city," pointing out that Dhun Lodge at Tardeo, "a beautiful, heritage building" was torn down and that a "modern RCC (reinforced cement concrete) jungle (is) coming up" in its place.
Heritage conservationist Cyrus Guzder states that in the proposed DP for the city, 1,000 heritage structures out of a total of 1,480 are not listed. "In the long run it is the preservation of urban form and heritage that gives the city its sense of history and its sense of belonging," he observes.
"It is a general convention that you need about six to 10 square meters of open space per person. In Bombay, we have just now somewhere around one square meter," Guzder notes.
But thanks to the vision of our forefathers, Parsis by and large have more open space than any other community in Bombay. The question is how to preserve that space and ensure the community, if not the city, derives the maximum benefit from this ancestral windfall.