“Do not disturb: Termites at work”

After an unseemly public spat over the maintenance of the greenery at Doongerwadi that spilt onto the front page of the Mumbai Mirror (MM) and the pages of the Hindustan Times dailies, the seven trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) issued a joint statement presenting a united front.
"We the trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet categorically state that not a single tree or part thereof has been either cut or chopped at Doongerwadi, which is a holy place for the disposal of our dead. Pursuant to a majority decision of the board, herbal pesticides are being used at Doongerwadi, to control termites under the supervision of Prashant Nijasure, MSc (Agriculture),” stated trustees Dinshaw Mehta (chairman), Arnavaz Mistry, Jimmy Mistry, Khojeste Mistree, Yazdi Desai, Armaity Tirandaz and Muncherji Cama in a jointly signed letter to the editor of MM.

The public spat occurred when an email written by Mistree to his co-trustees giving up his responsibilities for Doongerwadi in June was published in the Parsi Times (PT) weekly of July 6, 2013. Mistree alleged "the chairman wishes to run the BPP as his personal fiefdom where the orders of a fellow trustee are constantly set aside. I do not want to be party to the degradation and de-greening of our various baugs and institutions...
"Over the past year, I have found that either while I am abroad or without my knowledge, my general instructions of not to cut or trim any branches until I have seen the tree, personally, have been flouted again and again by the BPP staff members as well as the Baug associations concerned, under direct instructions, I am given to understand, from the chairman…
"Large branches of trees on BPP owned property are being crudely hacked by some members of the BPP staff, without permission from the Tree Authority and such acts are jailable offences… In spite of my objection and despite having… the officially commissioned report of Dr C. S. Lattoo (a plant taxonomist and botanist) the chairman went ahead and ordered pest control treatment to be done at the Doongerwadi forest, totally disregarding the advice of an expert which was to the contrary.
"In my opinion the Doongerwadi forest has been destroyed and the effect will be felt in the years to come and Mehta and the trustees who actively supported him then are solely responsible for this wanton act inspired by the political factionalism which exists in the board.”
MM quoted Mistree as stating, "Which forest in the world have pesticides been used in? You go to a doctor hoping he’s qualified enough to treat you. Why then would you say, to hell with him! I’ll figure the medication myself. Lattoo’s report was vetted by international experts, but the board chose to blatantly flout procedure. I saw no reason to stick around after they made me redundant.”
Mistree instructed that henceforth, all documentation regarding the upkeep of the forest and the trees be directed to the chairman of the BPP.
Writing in the Hindustan Times of July 12, 2013, columnist Manoj Nair quoted Mistree as stating Doongerwadi "is the green lung of South Bombay… we would like to keep it as a natural forest and not make it a municipal garden. It has to remain a forest. It has to grow naturally. Termites will be there. If a tree falls in a forest we do not remove it.”
In his "Parsi Tari Arsi” column in The Bombay Samachar of July 24, 2013 columnist and solicitor Berjis Desai alleged that while Mistree and his World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) cohorts attacked The Bombay Samachar and community activist Dhun Baria for publicizing "the sordid goings-on in the dakhma” several years ago, "Mistree does not mind bringing the Doongerwadi lands into full public glare.”
Dr Homi Dhalla who initiated the project for the solar panels and thereby earned the ire of Mistree who favored aviaries, countered the allegations made by Mistree. A copy of his article sent to Parsiana appeared in the PT issue of July 13.
"It is common knowledge that the Doongerwadi premises is full of termites and hence termite treatment has always been provided to protect the trees. This was completely stopped by Mistree since 2008. Secondly, smaller trees which were provided with manure during monsoons was also stopped. Thirdly, piles of fallen branches were just kept at various locations and not allowed to be removed — this further added to the termite problem. His cockeyed idea that Doongerwadi was a forest led him to do the above three. All these three factors were detrimental to the growth of the trees.
"In about August-September 2012, a large banyan tree fell damaging a solar concentrator. Thereupon, I personally went there and was shocked to see the extensive damage done to about 38 old trees which were about 50-70 years old. All of them were badly affected by termites. Even the tree that had fallen was weakened by termites. About 30 smaller trees which had been planted in my presence about 10 years ago had been eaten up by termites. In the last 33 years of my association with Doongerwadi, I had never seen so much damage and destruction. In this context, it is pertinent to note that Maneck Engineer, a former trustee of BPP, in his letter dated November 1, 2004 addressed to (then BPP chairman) Minoo Shroff had stated that BPP spent about Rs 45 to 50 lakhs on afforestation in the last five years. Considering these large resources spent by the BPP, an inquiry should have taken place and held Mistree responsible for this tragedy.
"I invited Dinshaw Mehta and others to visit the site and gauge for themselves the damage that was done. Besides Mehta, (BPP trustee) Arnavaz Mistry and DAC (Doongerwadi Advisory Committee) members Homai Modi and Mithoo Jesia personally came to see the damage. The last three persons actually wrote a letter to the trustees on December 31, 2012, to start the termite treatment once again. I must congratulate Mehta (for) restarting the termite treatment in the face of opposition from certain trustees…
"On my request, on December 19, 2012, (Maneck) Engineer specially invited Dr V. K. Ogale, who had served the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre for 36 years, to Doongerwadi. In his elaborate report, he put forward several suggestions, one of these being that termite treatment should be started to arrest the damage.”