“People are fed up”

"The campaigning is going very well,” says independent candidate Tehmtan Dumasia who is contesting the April Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship election. "The response is very good.” The other candidates "are throwing in money. I don’t have that kind of money. I’m doing door to door canvassing.” He has covered most of the major Parsi colonies often accompanied by his wife Shernaz.

"People are fed up of the infighting” in the BPP, he finds. The public believes the national newspapers and television "is not the forum (for quarreling). Sort it out in your own backyard. This is not a dignified way. Everyone is disgusted.”

Except housing all other issues are being neglected, people believed. "No one is concentrating on what the children need,” voters complained to him. [Maybe sensing this the BPP, the Parsi Resource Group (PRG) and the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) jointly held a half day Youth Development Program 2009 at the Dadar Madressa on March 28, 2009.]

"No one is looking into maintenance” of buildings, they lamented, even when the tenants are willing to contribute 50 percent of the cost, he observed.

Tehmtan Dumasia: "Give me a chance”

The BPP trustees are always cribbing they are "going in a loss. Where are the gains” from the income generated from hoardings going? they ask. Both Pantha­ky and Bharucha baugs have hoardings generating "crores of rupees,” estimate Dumasia. "Give us part of the income, we’ll maintain the colony with that” the residents say.

Voters appreciated Dumasia’s "positive attitude,” he averred. Noting that people were upset with the "false hopes” raised by the trustees during the last election such as promising to convert leave and license agreements into tenancies and then reneging, Dumasia tells voters: "You gave them a chance. Now give me a chance.” He estimates around 8,000 people will vote.

The 45-year-old entrepreneur has received the endorsement of several prominent Parsis/Iranis including Dr Marzban Nalla­daru, a former resident medical officer of the B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital and Zorast Zend of Peekay Wines.

His media kit also includes a letter of appreciation from Milind Deora, member of parliament, praising his assistance during the November 26, 2008 terrorist attacks in Bombay. Dumasia is secretary of the South Bombay Congress (I) district committee and a former president of the Godrej Baug Residents Welfare Association.