Upgrade for Udvada

Ten of the Rs 20 crores sanctioned by the Gujarat tourism ministry have already been released for the development of infrastructure for Udvada, home to the holy Iranshah Atash Behram. However, the funds have been vested with the collector of Valsad and not released directly to the Foundation for Development of Udvada (FDU), as clarified by Dastur Khurshed Dastoor, high priest of Udvada over the telephone in response to Parsiana’s request for details.

The FDU has sent a proposal to the collector about what is required to be attended to in Udvada. "First and foremost, we require a sea wall to stop the erosion,” Dastoor stressed. Also, "the roads near the Iranshah Atash Behram should be made one-way to regulate the traffic.” Other items include adequate parking space near the Atash Behram and paver blocks at the sides of the roads to give the area a uniform surface. Signage suitable for a heritage village is also on the agenda. "We wish to set up a gramudyog (small scale village business) center in a specially allocated area where women who sell homemade food products like pickles, papads and biscuits as well as mint and lemon grass, could ply their trade,” the high priest noted.
In addition, Dastoor revealed that the proposal includes work on the government owned Zoroastrian Information Centre which requires a coat of whitewash and the restoration of information charts within it that have faded due to time and the vagaries of the weather. On the cards is a gate to demarcate the entrance to Udvada village which begins near the Doongerwadi. The run down Kayoji Mirza Hall would also require a facelift so that it can serve as another community meeting place, Dastoor said. Towards this end, the collector had visited Udvada in early August for a survey along with heritage architect Jamshed Bhiwandiwalla, he shared.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to attend the Iranshah Udvada Utsav in December this year, has shown interest in the project. He is known to have a soft corner for Parsis and has been keen on the welfare of Udvada more so since the time he was chief minister of Gujarat, according to Dinshaw Tamboly, managing trustee of FDU. "Soon after swearing in (as prime minister), he had called a few members from the community to take an update on what was happening about the development,” Tamboly informed Mumbai Mirror (MM) of July 17, 2015.
Bhiwandiwalla, who is working on the development project, told MM, "It is a typical medieval village where you have to wind through the lanes to find the fire temple. We had already started the conservation of houses within the village way back in 1999 as they are the essence of the heritage. Over a period of time the embankment along the one kilometer long eroded coast, will be tackled. The village has extremely narrow roads that need resurfacing and widening too.”