A good mix

For the forthcoming Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) election I would suggest a team of trustees consisting of an industrialist or bu­si­nessman, a lawyer, a chartered accountant, an architect, a builder, a doctor and a social worker, preferably a lady. All these persons should be known to possess the zeal to serve the community to the best of their abilities. Each trustee should be given a particular assignment related to his or her field and should take full responsibility for its efficient functioning, liaising with the chief executive and the public relations officer. If this is done, there will be no need to form subcommittees.

In my opinion, the following criteria should be followed by all the trustees:

Attend all board meetings regularly, arrive on time and cooperate in completing the agenda for the day.

Visit all the colonies and baugs by turn in cooperation with fellow trustees, preferably on a Sunday morning and meet members of the managing committee or welfare league, listen to their problems and make an effort to redress them in due course.

Give priority to housing. Use all available resources to provide residential accommodation to those waiting to get married. The polyclinic at Gamadia Colony and the small school structure in Cusrow Baug are a waste of precious land.

Rustom Baug: "Visit the colonies”

Discourage students from going abroad for higher studies. According to a rough estimate, 70 percent of these youngsters do not return to India and nearly 70 percent of them get married outside the community. This accounts for a significant fall in the number of Parsi doctors and youngsters going in for prestigious careers such as in the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service because there are no brilliant students left for the competitive examinations.

Do not indulge in undue orthodoxy or religious fundamentalism. Choose the middle path and move with the times. Say a big ‘No’ to crazy and wasteful projects such as the vulture aviary at Doongerwadi.

Take up the issue of too many agiaries in Bombay. Persuade the trustees of these adarians and take their help in the matter because there are far too few devotees in a number of them.

Ensure that the BPP does not indulge in wasteful expenditure such as the elaborate publication of the BPP Review.

Study the existing facilities available for the aged and the infirm before thinking of converting the Parsi Lying-in Hospital into a home for the aged. In the present times such infirmaries should be attached to general hospitals where all facilities, including emergency care, would be available.

Allow and provide for the right to information for logical demands to preempt allegations of lack of transparency.

Set up a multiple counseling service at the BPP office with an experienced and knowledgeable person in charge.

A medical practitioner by profession, Dr Aspi Framroze Golwalla has been a trustee and chairman of the Bombay Parsi Pun­cha­yet. He has also been the trustee of the Masina Hospital and the Pirojsha Godrej Foundation.