At the extraordinary general meeting of the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India in Bombay on May 5, 2019, which I had attended as a representative of the Belgaum Parsi Zarthosti Anjuman, I had spoken about the false allegations levied against the father-son duo of Ervads Hoshang and Jehangir Dalal regarding community property in Dharwar. These priests have been maligned by nameless voices through thoughtless forwards of unsubstantiated messages in a section of the Parsi media.
Jehangir has been employed as the panthaki of the Belgaum Anjuman since 2007. He left a lucrative job working as an engineer with the multinational corporation Sony to serve our atash padshah. Being a small anjuman, we were unable to match the salary he was receiving at the time, despite which he chose to be our mobed and has served us selflessly and diligently till date.
His father Hoshang retired in 2015 from the Hubli Anjuman after 33 years and has been living with his son in Belgaum since then. He is now 84 years old and on most days one can find him inside the agiary, praying and tending to the atash padshah. Though he is no longer connected with Hubli in any way, he maintains good relations with members of the Hubli Anjuman who visit him when they can and even have him recite prayers for them in the Belgaum agiary.
The matter of the Dharwar lands has been going on since 2010. It was due to the vigilance of both father and son that the shameful attempt to sell off the lands without consulting or taking into confidence the persons concerned, at an amount way below the value of the property, was foiled.
It is a fact that both the Dalals have been selflessly looking after the graves in the Dharwar Aramgah as well as ensuring that there is no encroachment on the land. Jehangir has been going regularly to Dharwar, at his own expense, for the purpose. The Dalals have also spent from their personal funds for legal advice to protect the Dharwar property. Hence, the false allegations against them have resulted in needless stress and much heartache for them. AZME MODY
Secretary, Belgaum Parsi Zarthosti Anjuman