Saving Doongerwadi

Doongerwadi Advisory Committee (DAC) member Dr Homi Dhalla has supported transplanting of red soil from a construction site to Doongerwadi (see "Majority report,” Parsiana, April 21, 2014).

Soil received for use on Doongerwadi grounds

In an email to the DAC members referring to Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee Yazdi Desai’s email of April 8, 2014 castigating BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta for "unilaterally and arbitrarily authorizing the dumping of 300 trucks of matti (soil) on the sacred Doongerwadi lands from a nearby construction site without consulting the BPP board or the DAC,” Dhalla notes, "Samples of this high quality matti were shown to experts and we have been very fortunate to receive this in large bulk free of charge. Moreover, samples have been also sent to a laboratory for testing and the report is awaited. It shall be forwarded to you on receiving the same (the cost of this shall be borne by me).
"Matti was provided to the trees even during the time of (former BPP trustee) Maneck Engineer. Actually, BPP has saved lakhs of rupees as we have received this gratis. Moreover, the JCP (heavy duty earth moving) machine helped in leveling the matti and digging pits (free of charge). The contractor also has given us a long pipe and valves costing about Rs 20,000. It is very unfortunate that Desai and (BPP trustee Khojeste) Mistree came and issued orders that no further matti should be brought in, when about 85% of the work was completed. The JCP machine was used to place large stones so that the matti would not be lost during the monsoons. Leaving the work incomplete would pose this danger and we stand to lose matti worth lakhs of rupees.
"More importantly, I wish to state with the greatest emphasis at my command that there is every likelihood that large amounts of matti not being blocked by stones will go down the slope during the monsoons and obstruct the entrances of the bunglis. Besides this, since this work has been left incomplete, there is a grave danger of matti going towards the Grand Paradi Apartments. In such an eventuality, there will be serious problems for the BPP. The responsibility for this serious lapse shall lie squarely on the shoulders of Desai and Mistree.
"It is preposterous and most unfair to hurl allegations against Mehta that ‘he comes under a cloud of suspicion for favoring the builder.’”