Civics center

Construction of Sir Pherozeshah Mehta Bhavan and Research Centre at the Bombay University’s Kalina campus is proceeding apace with the plinth laid and completion expected by the end of the year, according to Dr Nawaz Mody, member secretary of Sir Pherozeshah Mehta 150th Birth Anniversary Celebrations Committee. The Centre will house the University’s department of civics and politics, says Mody who heads the department.

Of the Centre’s estimated total cost of six crore rupees, the cost of construction will amount to Rs 3.32 crore. Rustom Sethna’s firm Sethna Constructions is implementing the concept of noted architect I. M. Kadri who has designed the Bhavan gratis. The rest of the cost will cover the furniture and other infrastructure required for the making of a state of the art auditorium with multilingual interpretation facilities, an up-to-date library, seminar rooms with audiovisual facilities, etc. The auditorium will be named the Shirin and Jamshed Guzder Auditorium in recognition of J. Guzder’s Rs 85 lakh contribution to the project while the library will commemorate the Iranian Zoroastrian philanthropists Mehraban and the late Faridoon Zartoshty who have donated Rs 90 lakh.

The Guzder and Zartoshty portraits will grace their respective facilities. Artist Devdatta Padekar has already been commissioned to work on the Zartoshty portraits, noted committee member Hom­ai Modi.

Blessing the time capsule buried under the Sir P. Mehta Bhavan and Research Centre under construction (bottom)

At the intercession of author and administrator of Sir Dorab Tata Trust Russi Lala, Narottam Seksaria, chairman of Ambuja Cement, has agreed to provide all the cement required by the project at a unit cost of Rs 120 per package irrespective of price fluctuations (versus its present commercial price of Rs 150), says N. Mody. Presently they are negotiating with the Steel Authority of India for the large quantity of steel that is required for the construction, she adds.

The ground breaking of the project had been preceded by a multifaith prayer meeting on July 24, 2002 when Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh and Buddhist priests had followed Zarathushti mobed Ervad Pervez Bajan in chanting appropriate prayers for the success of the undertaking. On that occasion the University’s vice chancellor Dr B. L. Mungekar had recalled that there was "not a single aspect of the civic life of the metropolis to which Pherozeshah Mehta had not contributed” and had praised the role of the Parsi community in the building of the city. In the context of the prevailing "cultural decay amid material prosperity,” Mungekar hoped that the politics and civics department will be able to disseminate "lessons in composite culture and tolerance.”

Thereafter, on August 4, 2002, Mehta’s 157th birth anniversary, a jashan presaged the burial of a time capsule under the proposed auditorium. It contained newspapers, photographs of Mehta, a copper plate inscribed with membership details of Sir P. Mehta’s 150th Birth Anniversary Celebrations Committee (including those like former vice chairman Homi Taleyarkhan and Jehangir Nicholson who are no more), etc, N. Mody informed Parsiana.

Arnavaz S. Mama