Objected in time

A proposed pay-and-use toilet near the Dadysett Atash Behram is being opposed by the fire temple’s trustees. Speaking to Parsiana on July 4, 2018, secretary of the Dadysett Charity Trust Ervad Darayesh Katrak said that a municipal notice of this proposal dated May 10 was not given to the Atash Behram. A concerned sister community member from a neighboring building where the notice was pasted gave it to the caretaker of the Behram Yazad shrine within the Atash Behram complex. The notice had asked for objections and suggestions for the proposed plan by June 8. The trustees have written to the ward officer and the municipal commissioner on May 25, objecting to the proposal and stating that if the toilet is installed, appropriate legal action will be taken, said Katrak. No response to the trustees’ letter has been received yet, though the trust has an acknowledgment dated May 30 from the municipal corporation, trustee Mahernosh Humranwala told Parsiana on July 7.

Mobeds and humdins at Dadysett Atash Behram Photo: Jasmine D. Driver

Udaykumar Shiroorkar, assistant municipal commissioner of the C Ward, told the Hindustan Times (HT) of June 16 that "there was a suggestion from the councillor to have a toilet in the area, but if the community has a concern because it is around a religious site, it will be considered.” A previous Bombay High Court directive had called for the demolition of a toilet built close to the Bhikha Behram Well at the Cross Maidan and directed that there cannot be toilets around 100 m of religious structures, cited the HT report.