Foundation flawed

Relentlessly attacking the Foundation for Development of Udvada (FDU) for its perceived deeds of omission and commission over the last several months, the WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) Page or rather doublespread in the Afternoon Despatch and Courier of March 23, 2006 focused exclusively on deriding this organization.

"The FDU, instead of spending monies on infrastructure in Udvada, has used Rs 26.5 lakhs of Government monies to purchase a bungalow. This bungalow is now to be made into a museum at a cost of over one crore! Can a museum be considered ‘infrastructure’ for Udvada?” rhetorically questioned the WAPIZ editorial team. They further highlighted, "Highest price paid for a property in Udvada is…in black and white Rs 600 per square meter. Price paid by the FDU for Divecha’s property is over Rs 1,200 per square meter…Could the FDU please explain what is so special about the Divecha property that they paid almost double the highest price for property in Udvada?”

Raking up a letter of 2004 purportedly sent by six High Priests of India to the chief secretary, Government of Gujarat, the editorial team made bold, "WAPIZ publicly petitions the Government to pay heed to the community’s voice and use the monies allotted by them only for Udvada’s much needed infrastructure requirements…If the FDU has to continue in Udvada, the FDU trust deed must be changed from a general purpose omnibus trust to an Udvada-centric trust so that monies collected by the FDU be used for Udvada and Udvada alone.”

At the 16th Foundation Day of the Parvez Katrak Foundation four "simple and sincere” Parsi activists were presented a medal and roses (from left): Bahadur Daruwalla, Bahadur Hansotia, chief guest Dr Nelie Noble, president Parvez Katrak, Dr Vispi Meherhomji and Cyrus Siganporia. Photo: C. C. Gandevia

Condemning the "negative, damaging and destructive attitude” of certain sections of the community who have "made it their business to consider themselves self-styled defenders of the faith,” a press note from the chairman of the FDU Dastur Khurshed Dastoor reads, "FDU will not be dictated to by a bunch of rabid fundamentalists who view progress as negative, and sees no reason to issue clarifications from time to time.” Refuting the "allegations of fiduciary impropriety (that) have been implied,” the FDU sought to elucidate that when the project was originally conceived by the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited (TCGL), it was proposed that land would be made available free of cost to FDU for construction. When the land offered was found to be low lying and prone to flooding, the FDU architects studied more than 600 structures in Udvada village of which 180 were selected as sites of cultural significance. Subsequently eight properties were shortlisted and thereafter three sites for a fabric status survey to establish the level of repair/restoration required on these structures and to determine appropriate prices. "Thereafter the finally selected property was inspected by personnel from TCGL, project engineering department, who having been satisfied with all aspects of the site selected, approved the purchase and subsequently released the funds,” stated Dastoor before concluding, "While critics can and will only criticize, FDU remains committed to undertaking and executing the work assigned to us by the Governments of India and Gujarat.”