The staff members of the J. N. Petit Library on Dr Dadabhai Naoroji (D. N.) Road under which the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro-3 line is intended to pass "feel their heart misses a beat every time the digging work sends vibration through the floors of (the) Library,” according to a report in The Free Press Journal (FPJ) of June 21, 2017. Excavation work along the D. N. Road started in May this year for the 33 km line being constructed by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC).
The 119-year-old Neo-Gothic Library building had won the 2015 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation (see "A landmark library,” Parsiana, September 21, 2015). "We are scared the Metro work will damage the foundation of the heritage building,” some staff members of the Library were quoted. Parsiana contacted Bomi Umrigar, secretary of the Library with follow-up questions. Their trustee Dadabhai Patel regretted they were unable to speak to the Press.
Seth Hormasji Bomanji Wadia Atash Behram Photo: Jasmine D. Driver
J. N. Petit Library Photo: Farrokh Jijina
Umesh Nagarkar, head of the Heritage Conservation Committee of the Bombay Municipal Corporation told FPJ that they had sent a proposal to MMRC to change the alignment of the Metro "and take the backside road of the J. N. Petit Library building. But they replied that they already went through the tender process and now it is difficult to change.” Along with the Library premises, the adjoining Thomas Cook building is also facing vibrations while the piling work is going on, reported the Afternoon Despatch and Courier of June 21.
Other businesses in the area are similarly affected but Zarir Baliwalla, director of Baliwalla and Homi Private Limited, opticians, whose flagship store is located at Flora Fountain near the start of D. N. Road, is sanguine. He intimated Parsiana in a phone call on July 8 that "though there may be some disruption for customers in the near term when the Metro is under construction,” business will return to normal or "maybe better,” when the line is operational.
"For the Parsi fire temple (Seth Hormasji Bomanji Wadia Atash Behram on Princess Street), we have been asked by the fire temple’s trust to find a Parsi civil engineer in case we want to carry out a survey from inside the temple. Due to this, we at MMRC, are also looking for a Parsi civil engineer and have also asked the trust to find one,” according to an unnamed official of the Corporation, quoted by the Daily News and Analysis of July 2, 2017. The Metro-3 will run parallel to the Atash Behram. The official is reported to have stated that they have carried out a survey on the external structure of the temple, "but we need to go in to check its stability and the condition, as that will help us while we drill underground for the tunnel.” Khurshed Mistry, secretary of the trust that maintains the Atash Behram told DNA, "We have already given pictures of our fire temple from outside. We cannot allow any non-Parsi inside the temple, be it an engineer or any layman.”