Encroachment in Thana

The Zoroastrians of Thana are exerting themselves to recover possession of a cottage belonging to the Thana Zoroastrian Charity Fund (TZCF), located next door to the Cawasji Patell Agiary, which has, through a maze of circumstances, landed in the hands of a political party, the Shiv Sena, Parsiana was informed over the e-mail by Pervez Bhesania, trustee of the 300-year-old TZCF, vice president of the Thana Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman (TPZA) and trustee of the Thana Agiary Fund.

In another e-mail TPZA trustee Firdosh Kotwal, who is also secretary of the Mumbai Pradesh Youth Congress, wrote, "We have taken a signature campaign of Parsis in Thana... and we are going to meet our… chief minister as well as Uddhav Thackeray to give us help to get back what belongs to our religion and community. If nothing works the…Thana Parsi community will take to the streets, organize a hunger strike; do whatever it takes to get us back what belongs to… the community.”

Bhesania has enclosed a detailed petition that trustees of the TZCF had sent to Dr Mehroo Bengalee, member of the National Minorities Commission, asking for assistance and guidance in recovering the property. In this letter it is mentioned that the trust is the owner of two properties in Thana — Doonger­wadi, at the crossing of the highway with the Bombay Agra Road, and a plot of land next door to the Agiary having on it an old house called Anjuman Cottage of approximately 1,180 sq ft, formerly used for housing Zoroastrian employees of the trust. The Cottage is in a very central locality called Tembi Naka, Agiary Lane, close to the Town Hall and City Civil Court.

For years a part of Anjuman Cottage was occupied by two employees of the trust, Eruch Gandhi (449 sq ft) and Bachubai Jokhi (480 sq ft). About 28 years ago the then trustees of TZCF allowed a poor Parsi, Maneckshaw Porbunderwala, to stay free of cost in a portion of this Cottage (250 sq ft). He then started working for the trust and lived there with his two young daughters who subsequently got married and moved away. Around 1975, Porbunder­wala stopped working and reportedly became a nuisance for the trust and the neighbors. He was asked to vacate, which he refused to do. A suit was filed by the trustees in the Thana Court to evict him and in 1979, a few days before the judgment, which was in the trust’s favor, Porbunderwala allegedly, in contravention of conditions to which he had agreed, illegally inducted one Jataram Pandey, a non-Zoroastrian in his quarters on a meager consideration of Rs 5,000.

Baroda’s Seth Faramji Cawasji Contractor Agiary

The trust obtained vacant possession of the premises with the help of the police and court bailiff in November 1979. Pandey filed a civil suit for restoration and injunction against the trust, allegedly producing false documents claiming he was a sub-tenant, and was temporarily reinducted with a stay order. The trust fought a protracted legal battle and the case was dismissed, with the Court declaring Pandey a trespasser and ordering him to be evicted.

Meanwhile, Pandey had brought into the Cottage prominent Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe who used the premises to carry out social and political activities of the party. The trust requested Dighe to vacate the premises which were next door to the fire temple and reserved for the use of Zoroastrians only for generations. Dighe asked for time to arrange for alternative accommodation.

The trustees held several meetings with Dighe and even arranged for an alternative place for him, buying a flat in the nearby Dhobi Ali locality at a cost of three lakh rupees. He entered into a leave and licence agreement with the trust for the flat on February 24, 1991, but continued to occupy Anjuman Cottage, promising to vacate at a later date. Initially Dighe occupied 300 sq ft, but after the demise of Gandhi and Jokhi he allegedly took over the entire place without informing the trustees and used it illegally as his office-cum-residence.

The trustees were greatly distressed as Dighe was a very powerful politician. Unfortunately, he died in August 2001 and to this day the property remains in the hands of his associates who have put up a board proclaiming "Anand Ashram” on the outside gate leading to the fear that this valuable property will slip out of the hands of the community.

The trustees intend to construct a new building on the premises with 10-15 small tenements of about 400-500 sq ft each to accommodate poor, needy Zoroastrians, plans for which have been passed by the Thana Municipal Corporation and town planning authority. They feel that urgent and timely action needs to be taken to peacefully restore this property to the community and have appealed to the Minorities Commission for assistance in doing so. As Bhesania writes in his e-mail, perhaps "some prominent Parsis (will) guide and help us (particularly lawyers or politicians) or friends (of) the political parties.”

New look Baroda agiary

The Seth Faramji Cawasji Contractor Agiary, located in the Sayajigunj area of Baroda, celebrated its 85th salgirah on February 1, 2009 with a glittering function held in its compound, attended by about 600 Parsis/Iranis and 400 non-Parsis. On this auspicious day the Agiary wore a brand new look with its red brick walls decorated with a myriad dazzling light bulbs, Leena P. Wadia informed Parsiana in a write-up.

The trust deed of the Agiary, which was constructed by Pestonji Faramji Contractor in 1922 and inaugurated on February 23, 1924, enjoins that its trustees must always be from the Contractor family and the present incumbents, Jeru Contractor, Pessy M. Contractor and Nikitin R. Contractor, have been managing the affairs of the fire temple where a large number of co-religionists in Baroda go to worship, have prayers said and religious ceremonies performed, the write-up details.

The function was presided over by district collector of Baroda Vijay Nehra who spoke very highly about the community and its outstanding contribution to the nation. He also lauded the Contractor family’s role in the development of Baroda. Ervad (Dr) Ramiyar Karanjia, principal of the Dadar Athornan Boarding Madressa, Baroda’s mayor Balkrishna Shukla, Swami Nikhileswa­ra­nanda, secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission and Maharani Shubhanginiraje Gaekwad also graced the occasion.

Jeru Contractor outlined a brief history of the Agiary and the various activities carried out by its trustees. The Agiary building, which was renovated extensively a decade earlier when the Agiary was 75, was once again given a facelift in the form of costly new tiles in all the rooms, oil painting of the walls, doors and windows as well as new chandeliers and carpets at a cost of about Rs 35 lakh, the write-up states.

Keynote speaker Karanjia elaborated on "Why I should be proud of being a Zoroastrian and an Indian,” highlighting many salient points of the religion. Pointing out similarities between the Hindu scriptures (shlokas) and Avestan scriptures, he mentioned that many rites and rituals are common to both the religions.

Next came an enlightening talk on "Swami Vivekananda and Zoroastrianism” by Swami Nikhileswarananda who also reminisced about his association with Jamsetji Tata and the achievements of eminent Parsis who, by sheer hard work, integrity and high ideals excelled in various fields, thereby contributing to the progress of their adopted country.

Jal Patel, president of the Baroda Parsi Panchayat and two members of the Baroda Municipal Corporation also spoke, after which shawls were presented to seven members of the community who had contributed significantly towards the renovation, maintenance and betterment of the Agiary over the years, as per the write-up.

Since the sacred fire had been shifted to an adjoining hall some distance away from the main building and was to remain there until its reinstallation to its original place a month later after performing the requisite religious ceremonies, the trustees decided to keep the Agiary open to all so that non-Parsis would be enabled to glimpse its interiors. This unique opportunity has been availed of and appreciated by a number of non-Parsis, notes the press release.

A vote of thanks by trustee Nikitin Contractor was followed by a sumptuous dinner for all those present.