The new president of the Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP) Dr Homi Doodhwala says his focus will be on increasing the corpus of the trust. Reshuffling of investments is on the cards. "Amari bov property ma encroachment chhé…énné maaté ladiyé chhaiiyé (Many of our properties are encroached upon… We are fighting to get these back),” he told Parsiana on October 25, 2022. The Panchayat owns about 150 flats, he stated, of which "eight to 10%” are unoccupied. Tenants may have moved out and kept the property locked or illegally given them away. "There are cases even in the Supreme Court,” he noted.
Most of their buildings are a century or so old. Renovation and repairing is going to be the focus, subject to funds. Doodhwala hopes the Enti Dharamshala will be re-opened.
Top, from l: Yazdi Karanjia, Rustom Morena, Dr Homi Doodhwala;
above: Jamshed Dotivala
The new president will serve a three-year term, notes a message from the Panchayat’s chief executive officer Rohinton Mehta. Doodhwala possesses a degree in general surgery and served the municipal corporation of the city for 38 years before retiring. He is the erstwhile medical superintendent and director for medical education and research, and professor of surgery at the Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research. Appointed an SPP trustee in 1982, Doodhwala’s "contribution to the community during the recent Covid period is noteworthy especially in the matter of dakhmenashini where he led the fight on behalf of the community for respectful last rituals of Parsis” who succumbed to the coronavirus, noted Mehta’s communique (see "Surat plea admitted,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, December 21, 2020-January 6, 2021).
Jamshed Dotivala served as president of SPP from 2014 onwards. Parsiana requested inputs from Burjor Antia, senior solicitor and trustee of the Parsi Surat Charity Funds that ratifies selection of trustees of the SPP. Antia stated that Dotivala, who joined the SPP board as a trustee in July 1988, has made noteworthy contributions. "SPP currently operates around 12 trusts for the benefit of the community… These trusts mainly include Nariman Home and Infirmary, Parsi General and Maternity Hospital, Nariman Parsi Girls Orphanage, Parsi Boys Orphanage and English/Gujarati Medium Schools…He made a great contribution in all these trusts by strengthening them.” President since 2014, Antia stated that "under (Dotivala’s) guidance, the Panchayat has carried out many service activities for the benefit of the community… The mega project called Enti Dharamshala is nearing completion and he has taken great pains in completing it… With the support of fellow trustees he (added) invaluable facilities to (Surat’s) Parsi General Hospital.”
Dotivala is also associated with other Parsi charitable trusts and is the president of the Lions Club of Surat and the district governor of Lions International, noted Antia. "One of the projects is the Lions Cancer Detection Center, of which he is the president, and he has had the latest equipment like linear accelerator and CT Scan added to equip this Center.”
Dotivala is the owner of Surat’s famous Dotivala Bakery. Born in August 1948 in Amravati, he was educated in Bombay. After pursuing his bachelor degree in science and a bakery course, he joined the family business and settled in Surat. The Bakery has been in existence for the last five generations, noted Antia.