HOUSING:
The much awaited Order of the Supreme Court in the matter of Parsi Lying-in Hospital was received last month. In a sense, the Supreme Court Order was rather inconsequential as, by then, the expert Hospital Management Company, Krimson Health Ventures Pvt. Ltd, had withdrawn from the deal, being frustrated by the unnecessary protracted litigation. It is unfortunate that the community has lost out on such a good opportunity to re-operationalize the hospital, earn good revenue and enjoy free medical treatment. For 20 years it has been lying unused, dilapidated and in a crumbling state, and in all probability, will remain like this for another 20 years… all thanks to Dinshaw Mehta. However what is important to note is the observations made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the Order which, in my opinion, must serve as a direction note to all future BPP Trustees.
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The Observations of the Supreme Court are as follows:
“The Trustees will take all decisions in relation to the affairs of the Trust keeping in view the directions of the author of the Trust”.
Against this backdrop, let us look at the facts – All the BPP and Wadia Colonies were built under Trust Deeds wherein the settlor (author) has unequivocally granted the benefit of all the buildings in the colonies for housing the poor and needy at concessional rates. Consequently, the previous Board under the chairmanship of Dinshaw Mehta was clearly in violation of the Trust Deeds by selling off around 55 flats to the more financially privileged class of the community. As if blatantly violating the trust Deeds as Chairman in the previous Board was not enough, Dinshaw Mehta is even today, from outside the BPP, exhorting this new Board to sell flats. I am proud to say that the present Board has not sold a single flat but, on the other hand, we have given more than a 100 flats to the deserving members of the community.
The question on the lips of some skeptical members of our community is – If the BPP does not “sell” flats, from where will it get its funds? My answer to these skeptics is that the BPP will become financially stable if it takes some bold though unpopular decisions like raising service charges to balance the income and expenditure of colonies. This has been done; and I must gratefully acknowledge all the residents who have understood and accepted this decision of the BPP.
Secondly, what will help, is a judicious mix of maximum free allotments and just a few on Security Deposits… just enough to bridge the funding gap of the BPP and definitely not the rampant selling of flats followed and being advocated by Dinshaw Mehta.
DEFUNCT ANJUMANS COMMITTEE (DAC):
In one of my earlier communications to the community, I had mentioned that the BPP, as the Big Brother in the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI), has taken the initiative to steer the DAC to preserve, protect and monetize in a transparent manner for the benefit of our community, the properties of Anjumans all over India, where the Parsi population is dwindling. One such Defunct Anjuman is the Neemuch Parsi Anjuman. We have been successful in persuading the few remaining Parsis of Neemuch to hand over control and management of their Anjuman to the FPZAI. It is a testimony of the faith in the integrity of the present FPZAI leadership team that the members of Neemuch Parsi Anjuman at their Annual General Meeting held on 1st April 2017 elected 7 FPZAI Office bearers to be the Trustees of their Anjuman. Thus handing over the control and management of their Anjuman to the FPZAI.
In this success, I must acknowledge the outstanding contribution of Mr. Sam Chothia, as the CEO of the DAC, who has achieved this kind of result never seen in the 40 year old history of FPZAI.
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STRENGTHENING THE ORGANISATION:
My Board of Trustees is committed to bringing a corporate culture into the running of the BPP. As a first step in this direction, the CEO was fully empowered to take all administrative decisions in the running of the BPP and its various institutions (Doongerwadi, Parakh Dharamshala, etc) and the Trustees would not interfere in the decisions taken by the CEO. Staff members whose performance has not measured up, inspite of repeated warnings, have been dissociated and new and critical positions have been filled in.
In December 2016, a new professional Manager was put in charge of our vast Doongerwadi Estate.
Last month we hired Mr. Bilal Baig as the Head of our Projects and Engineering Department. Bilal comes with an experience of 30 years in civil construction with Godrej and will oversee the repairs and maintenance of all BPP and Wadia Buildings, in addition to the Housing projects in the pipeline.
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MONTHLY DOLES TO THE POOR:
The BPP gives monthly doles to 281 Parsi Zoroastrians in Mumbai and 254 Parsi Zoroastrians outside of Mumbai. The monthly financial help ranges from Rs.1,200 to Rs.7,000 per month. The amount depends on a case-to-case basis, including criteria and variables like family size, medical condition of family members, etc. Earlier the monthly doles were given mostly in cash and a few by cheques, but since 2015 all payments are directly sent through NEFT into the Bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
During Jamshedi Navroze and New Year in August, the BPP gives Rs.500 as Navroze gift to these community members. In the last quarter the BPP disbursed Rs.14,03,500/- for persons living in Mumbai and Rs.11,41,400/- for outstation persons. This includes the Rs.500/- towards Jamshedi Navroze gift.
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NAVROZE DISTRIBUTION OF HAMPERS BY LIAISON COMMITTEE:
The Liaison Committee is part of the BPP, though it is run independently. One of its charitable activities is distribution of food hampers to 300 deserving underprivileged Parsi families. This distribution is done a few days before Jamshedi Navroze from the Liaison Committee’s Office at Chikalwadi, Tardeo.
What makes this distribution different and unique is the care and thought that is put into making the hamper – apart from the regular rice, dal and tea (2 kg Kohinoor Basmati rice and Tata tea), the families get Mangal ravo packet, Royal falooda packet, Elephant brand sev, 150 gms mixed dry fruits, sugar, 200 gm Amul cheese cubes, a Wafer packet, and to top it all Surat Dotivala’s batasa packet and mava cake – all to make their Navroze a sweet and enjoyable occasion.
Also, the persons who come to collect the hampers are treated with respect, dignity and comfort and given juice packs while standing in the distribution line.
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