Editorial Viewpoint
A weighty choice
The Nowroz Baug (NB) redevelopment project is undoubtedly the most ambitious venture ever envisaged by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP). A total of 1,200 flats are proposed to be constructed at the Lalbaug colony in lieu of the present 358 flats. The only catch is that 70 percent of the tenants have to give their "irrevocable consent” to the plan in order for the government authorities to grant permission.
And this is where the bold scheme differs from all the other housing projects undertaken by the various trusts. The tenants have the upper hand unlike at earlier times. In the past the BPP constructed buildings and offered flats on a tenancy, leave and license or ownership basis. The new occupants had little say as to the terms and conditions specified. Desperate for an affordable roof over their heads, they signed the agreements with the terms specified. Thus today the residents of the Aderbad Cooperative Housing Society at Khareghat Colony find that they are not tenants, licensees, nor owners of the land or the building they occupy.
Similarly for the residents of A. H. Wadia Baug in Parel. Initially if they wanted to resell their flats they could only do so at the same price at which they bought the premises. Realizing the impracticality of this clause, the BPP permitted the premises to be sold at the prevailing rate for Parsi-only covenanted properties, but kept 20 percent of the sales proceeds. Reportedly a verbal understanding was reached whereby half of this amount would revert to the housing society for maintenance, repairs, etc. But a new committee elected in February 2012 claims the share due to them is being withheld. The residents shell out money for the repairs and upkeep of the colony but the BPP derives the benefit from the sales, they allege.
The residents state the land was donated by the A. H. Wadia Trust to the BPP and the proceeds received from the sale of flats compensated the BPP for the cost of construction.
Interestingly in the last year no sales have taken place. There are buyers, mostly existing occupants looking for a second flat, but there are no sellers. If this trend is repeated elsewhere, the BPP and others trusts who derive their major income from changes in tenancy and ownership will find their revenues slashed.
In their 2011-2012 balance sheet, the BPP showed "donations” of Rs 11,32,68,242 (US $ 2,059,422). This was largely, if not totally, money received from the change of occupants of flats. A portion of the sales proceeds is treated as a donation while the remaining amount due to the BPP is accounted for as a deposit, liable to be repaid to the licensee once he or she leaves.
The NB project is undertaken on the basis that the BPP will be able to sell 500 flats to Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians. The sale prices of the flats are still to be determined but one can do the basic math. BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta told the NB residents at the March 23, 2013 meet that the cost of construction will be in the vicinity of Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per square foot. Thus the 500 flats to be sold on an ownership basis will have to fully subsidize the cost of the remaining 700 which will be given gratis to residents and at low rates to those on the merit rating system.
Mehta spoke of one million square feet being developed. The construction cost would therefore work out to Rs 400 crores (around US $ 72 million). If one divides the figure by the 500 flats to be sold, the figure comes to approximately Rs 80,00,000 per flat. Plus a kitty has to be created to take care of the increased outgoings for the existing NB tenants. So the ownership flats may have to sell for around a crore of rupees (US $ 1,81,818) each, depending on the area. Mehta said the area of residence would vary from 400 to 1,250 sq ft. The monthly outgoings will also be steep, probably in the vicinity of Rs 10,000 if not more, allowing for all the generous facilities and amenities planned.
In the 2001 Government of India census, the Bombay Parsi population was around 46,000. The 2011 census figures for the community are still to be announced but Bombay should be in the range of 40,000. By the 2021 census — by which time the NB project should be largely ready — an educated projection would put the figure at 35,000. Would there be enough buyers and would they have the wherewithal to buy at the estimated price?
Allow that the BPP is adamant on excluding non-Parsi spouses from residing in their colonies. In 2012 the interfaith marriage percentage was 42. We can assume by 2021 the percentage will have crossed 50 percent. So even assuming these couples have enough money to buy the flats, they would be barred from doing so.
Mehta has often repeated the BPP’s unwillingness to sign any lease deed or conveyance for BPP owned land or buildings occupied by Parsis stating that the BPP alone can enforce the Parsi-only covenant. But this contention is rubbished by the fact that in many BPP flats non-Parsi spouses reside. The trustees turn a blind eye if the non-Parsi spouse is female. But if a Parsi woman marries a non-Parsi, the BPP is more aggressive in trying to oust the family legally or through inducements. Housing societies in the Mancherji Joshi Parsi Colony at Dadar probably have a better track record of keeping non-Parsis at bay even though many of the houses/flats are owned by independent housing societies.
Mehta has used the excuse of the Parsi-only covenant to deny conveyance of land and buildings to residents of Aderbad, A. H. Wadia Baug, Spenta, etc. Only in the case of the Shanazeen building at Khareghat Colony has the lease been signed. And here too the BPP occasionally keeps threatening to cancel the lease.
Thus the NB tenants are in a unique position. They are meeting the trustees on an equal footing. The BPP and the Wadia Committee need the approval of 70 percent of the ‘Baugarians’ (as one of the trustees coined the term). If the residents make too many demands, the scheme will fall through. If on the other hand the BPP does not offer ironclad safeguards, the present occupants may find themselves in the same stateless status as the residents of Aderbad, A. H. Wadia Baug and elsewhere.
Within the BPP and the Wadia Committee there are strong differences. At a stormy meet a few days prior to the public presentation to the NB residents, Mehta is reported to have stomped out of the meeting. The "mentor” of the NB redevelopment scheme as Mehta is referred to will exit from office by mid-2015. Will the other trustees and the new ones elected in 2015 have the same drive, commitment, determination, expertise and rapport with the tenants as Mehta? For all his high-handedness, many residents state that Mehta always shows up in their hour of need, unlike some of the other trustees.
The NB tenants are faced with a difficult choice. They have to weigh the pros of new construction, better facilities, greater privacy (the present buildings are constructed on a chawl basis which while restricting privacy also enable neighbors to look out for each other) with the cons of increased costs and an influx of 700 new families moving into their colony. The residents are awaiting a written proposal from the Wadia Committee before making a commitment. But whatever the outcome, probably for the first time, the tenants will be the ones making the final choice.
And this is where the bold scheme differs from all the other housing projects undertaken by the various trusts. The tenants have the upper hand unlike at earlier times. In the past the BPP constructed buildings and offered flats on a tenancy, leave and license or ownership basis. The new occupants had little say as to the terms and conditions specified. Desperate for an affordable roof over their heads, they signed the agreements with the terms specified. Thus today the residents of the Aderbad Cooperative Housing Society at Khareghat Colony find that they are not tenants, licensees, nor owners of the land or the building they occupy.
Similarly for the residents of A. H. Wadia Baug in Parel. Initially if they wanted to resell their flats they could only do so at the same price at which they bought the premises. Realizing the impracticality of this clause, the BPP permitted the premises to be sold at the prevailing rate for Parsi-only covenanted properties, but kept 20 percent of the sales proceeds. Reportedly a verbal understanding was reached whereby half of this amount would revert to the housing society for maintenance, repairs, etc. But a new committee elected in February 2012 claims the share due to them is being withheld. The residents shell out money for the repairs and upkeep of the colony but the BPP derives the benefit from the sales, they allege.
The residents state the land was donated by the A. H. Wadia Trust to the BPP and the proceeds received from the sale of flats compensated the BPP for the cost of construction.
Interestingly in the last year no sales have taken place. There are buyers, mostly existing occupants looking for a second flat, but there are no sellers. If this trend is repeated elsewhere, the BPP and others trusts who derive their major income from changes in tenancy and ownership will find their revenues slashed.
In their 2011-2012 balance sheet, the BPP showed "donations” of Rs 11,32,68,242 (US $ 2,059,422). This was largely, if not totally, money received from the change of occupants of flats. A portion of the sales proceeds is treated as a donation while the remaining amount due to the BPP is accounted for as a deposit, liable to be repaid to the licensee once he or she leaves.
The NB project is undertaken on the basis that the BPP will be able to sell 500 flats to Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians. The sale prices of the flats are still to be determined but one can do the basic math. BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta told the NB residents at the March 23, 2013 meet that the cost of construction will be in the vicinity of Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per square foot. Thus the 500 flats to be sold on an ownership basis will have to fully subsidize the cost of the remaining 700 which will be given gratis to residents and at low rates to those on the merit rating system.
Mehta spoke of one million square feet being developed. The construction cost would therefore work out to Rs 400 crores (around US $ 72 million). If one divides the figure by the 500 flats to be sold, the figure comes to approximately Rs 80,00,000 per flat. Plus a kitty has to be created to take care of the increased outgoings for the existing NB tenants. So the ownership flats may have to sell for around a crore of rupees (US $ 1,81,818) each, depending on the area. Mehta said the area of residence would vary from 400 to 1,250 sq ft. The monthly outgoings will also be steep, probably in the vicinity of Rs 10,000 if not more, allowing for all the generous facilities and amenities planned.
In the 2001 Government of India census, the Bombay Parsi population was around 46,000. The 2011 census figures for the community are still to be announced but Bombay should be in the range of 40,000. By the 2021 census — by which time the NB project should be largely ready — an educated projection would put the figure at 35,000. Would there be enough buyers and would they have the wherewithal to buy at the estimated price?
Allow that the BPP is adamant on excluding non-Parsi spouses from residing in their colonies. In 2012 the interfaith marriage percentage was 42. We can assume by 2021 the percentage will have crossed 50 percent. So even assuming these couples have enough money to buy the flats, they would be barred from doing so.
Mehta has often repeated the BPP’s unwillingness to sign any lease deed or conveyance for BPP owned land or buildings occupied by Parsis stating that the BPP alone can enforce the Parsi-only covenant. But this contention is rubbished by the fact that in many BPP flats non-Parsi spouses reside. The trustees turn a blind eye if the non-Parsi spouse is female. But if a Parsi woman marries a non-Parsi, the BPP is more aggressive in trying to oust the family legally or through inducements. Housing societies in the Mancherji Joshi Parsi Colony at Dadar probably have a better track record of keeping non-Parsis at bay even though many of the houses/flats are owned by independent housing societies.
Mehta has used the excuse of the Parsi-only covenant to deny conveyance of land and buildings to residents of Aderbad, A. H. Wadia Baug, Spenta, etc. Only in the case of the Shanazeen building at Khareghat Colony has the lease been signed. And here too the BPP occasionally keeps threatening to cancel the lease.
Thus the NB tenants are in a unique position. They are meeting the trustees on an equal footing. The BPP and the Wadia Committee need the approval of 70 percent of the ‘Baugarians’ (as one of the trustees coined the term). If the residents make too many demands, the scheme will fall through. If on the other hand the BPP does not offer ironclad safeguards, the present occupants may find themselves in the same stateless status as the residents of Aderbad, A. H. Wadia Baug and elsewhere.
Within the BPP and the Wadia Committee there are strong differences. At a stormy meet a few days prior to the public presentation to the NB residents, Mehta is reported to have stomped out of the meeting. The "mentor” of the NB redevelopment scheme as Mehta is referred to will exit from office by mid-2015. Will the other trustees and the new ones elected in 2015 have the same drive, commitment, determination, expertise and rapport with the tenants as Mehta? For all his high-handedness, many residents state that Mehta always shows up in their hour of need, unlike some of the other trustees.
The NB tenants are faced with a difficult choice. They have to weigh the pros of new construction, better facilities, greater privacy (the present buildings are constructed on a chawl basis which while restricting privacy also enable neighbors to look out for each other) with the cons of increased costs and an influx of 700 new families moving into their colony. The residents are awaiting a written proposal from the Wadia Committee before making a commitment. But whatever the outcome, probably for the first time, the tenants will be the ones making the final choice.
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