New Bombay alternatives

"There are two alternatives for the proposed agiary in New Bombay,” according to Sharukh Doctor, president of The New Bombay Zoroastrian Association Charitable Trust (TNBZACT), following the stay granted by the Bharuch district court on July 15, 2016 on the shifting of the holy fire from the Doongaji Agiary in Bharuch to Koparkhairane, New Bombay. Speaking to Parsiana over the telephone he said, "We either convert it to a dadgah or look for a second holy fire.”

Empty kebla and entrance to New Bombay agiary Photos: Jasmine D. Driver

The course of action after the stay is being debated by the trustees of the Doongaji Agiary who were to meet with senior solicitor Burjor Antia to elicit his views on what to do now. TNBZACT and the trustees of the Bharuch Agiary plan to subsequently meet Dastur Khurshed Dastoor for his advice in the matter.
Percy Hansotia and Kaizad Sethna had moved the Bharuch District Court against the shifting of the Doongaji Agiary fire to the proposed new fire temple in New Bombay. According to the Court, the holy fire cannot be removed from its place of enthronement until the matter is finally heard and decided by the courts.
"The padshah saheb has finally spoken and indicated that his glory cannot and should not be tampered with for frivolous reasons. The whole idea was conceptually wrong as, in today’s highly materialistic and unclean atmosphere, shifting of a divine entity like a padshah sahib out of his kash (consecrated area) and exposing him to druj (spiritual pollution) of all kinds, which was bound to happen in a journey of over 500 kms, is completely out of sync with nature’s diktat on the subject,” wrote H. M. Mistry in an email addressed to the-parsee-voice@googlegroups.com and circulated in cyberspace. "All concerned, including the High Priests, are sincerely urged to read the writing on the wall, and give up this impractical idea,” the voice of the orthodox states.