Zoroastrians were behind the electrification of Navsari and Dahanu towns
Farrokh Jijina
With a population of 20,000 did the south Gujarat town of Navsari need electricity at all in the early years of the 20th century? The recent failure of the gas company there and a dull capital market would have deterred most. But chartered electrical engineer Ardeshir Modi proceeded to set up The Navsari Electric Supply Company Limited in 1921. While in the coastal town of Dahanu, now in northwest Maharashtra, agriculturist Merwan Irani "purchased two 300 hp engines and one 900 hp Skoda engine in 1952 to generate electricity,” notes Dahanu resident Farzan Mazda about his paternal great-grandfather.
The company in Navsari was started with an authorized capital of Rs 500,000. Researcher Marzban Giara records in an email to Parsiana that the "building (for the coal based plant)… erection of engines, distribution and feeder lines were all handled by (Modi) without the help of any consulting engineer.” The company initially faced difficulties due to under subscription of capital, and borrowed Rs 90,000 from one Rustomji Modi, a businessman. The timely inflow helped the company to find its feet. The initial directors of the company were Sir Homi Mehta, Sorabji Mullan, Dinshaw Daboo and Nusserwanji Mistry, with Modi as managing director. The company started operations in 1923 with 62 customers, which grew to 255 at the end of the second year and to 1,600 by 1935.
Ardeshir Modi (left) and Merwan Irani
(L) Modi (standing, center) with Dr Sir Tehmulji Nariman (seated second from left) March 1937
Photo courtesy: Marzban Giara
An alumnus of Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Madressa in Navsari and the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute in Bombay, Modi was the owner of Pioneering Electric Company in Bombay. Having a track record of electrification of transport steamers, he secured a license for supply of electric power to Navsari from the Gaekwad government in the erstwhile princely state of Baroda, of which Navsari was a province.
A member of Daboo Hospital Committee, Modi played a leading role in founding the Sorabji Burjorji Garda College of Arts at Navsari too, according to Giara. "Navsari became a center for the matriculation examination” largely due to Modi’s lobbying, he states. Among the organizations that Modi rendered services to were the Mulla Behtari Fund, Khurshedji Desai Yadgiri Fund, Bamji Sanatorium, Bazme Jashne Ruze Behram, Parsi Orphanage and Bhagarsath Committee.
Dara Deboo, trustee of the Navsari Samast Parsi Zarathoshti General Fund and resident of the town recalls hearing about Modi from the elders in his family. He narrates his recollections during a phone call to Parsiana on January 14, 2017: When the electricity company was not doing well and could not pay its creditors, it led to some embarrassment for Modi ("bov kharab laagu”). A representative of a British equipment supplier came to Navsari to collect the monies due on commissioning of their equipment. Modi was not to be found on the appointed day. "He was not happy about being unable to meet the company’s commitments,” surmises Deboo. When he finally met the British company’s representative, they agreed to defer the payments on the condition that future equipment would be purchased solely from the British company, an obligation that was honored by the electricity company. He credits the deferred payment option to "the impeccable reputation” that Modi enjoyed.
Modi was the powerhouse behind the first conference of The Mechanical Engineers’ Association (India) to be held in Navsari, notes Giara. Parsiana reader and heritage revivalist Jeetendrasingh Gaekwad, whose grandfather Bhadrasinghrao Gaekwad was then Rajyakaryadhurandhar (vice president) of the state council of the erstwhile Baroda State, recalls that Modi was "one of the foremost technocrats of Navsari.” Gaekwad shared extracts of speeches made at the conference in February 1946 where Modi paid homage to Navsari Parsi greats from industry, religion and politics and the encouragement to industry provided by the ruling house of the Gaekwads in his welcome address.
The industrialist passed away in an accident at the power plant in June 1946 while he was supervising the construction of pumps. Deboo explains that the cost-conscious managing director was in the process of expanding the plant. "Where there should have been say seven laborers, the company hired only five,” leading to the fatal accident.
Plaque at the Dahanu powerhouse
Electricity for orchards
Irani founded the Dahanu People’s Electricity Co-operative Society in 1952 with 16 members, notes Mazda, detailing the role of his ancestor in bringing electricity to the chikoo bowl of Maharashtra. A building that used to house the generation plant now stands in a quiet lane in Dahanu, housing the MSEB (Maharashtra State Electricity Board) offices. "The Society functioned till 1968, providing electricity to residences, farms and small scale industries, before it was acquired by the MSEB,” he states.
The plant was inaugurated by Vaikunth Mehta, the finance and cooperation minister of Bombay State and pioneer of the cooperative movement in India, 90-year-old Dahanu resident Chandra Bothra, who was a long time lawyer to Irani for his business ventures, informs Parsiana. In a phone call with us on January 18, 2017 Merwan’s daughter Maharukh Irani says her father "was a very determined man. You could call him obstinate or passionate.”
Mazda reminisces that the agriculturist was a pioneer in nurturing the chikoo plant in the region, and attributes its sturdiness to selective grafting. Merwan was also responsible for starting the first English school in Dahanu — St Mary’s — "in his own compound, but that is another story about my multifaceted forefather,” adds Mazda.