There is a lot of misinformation floating around within community circles regarding the BPP “exploiting” its staff and not paying them their Bonus on Parsi New Year and acting “highhandedly” with the Union.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
- For the record, the mischief was initiated by the Union and not BPP.
- Paying bonus to the employees was never refused by the trustees.
- The new Board of trustees had successfully negotiated a reasonably good agreement with the Union.
- The Trustees have maintained cordial relations with the Union and the staff. But, the recent intimidating tactics adopted by the Union are unacceptable, unfair and unethical.
- The BPP trustees had in fact met the staff before the New Year and assured them that Bonus would be paid but requested them to please give the trustees some time as there is a financial crunch.
- We (including myself) pleaded with Mr. Naterwala over the phone to exercise patience but it seems he was impatient. Instead of talking to the trustees he talked to the press.
- Every action on his part was to scare and intimidate the trustees using Doongerwadi as a tool to make trustees come to their knees.
- My personal motto in life has always been: Never fear to negotiate but never negotiate out of fear.
- On the day that the staff went on mass casual leave there were two funerals at Doongerwadi. Thanks to the contingency plan and efforts put in by some of the trustees, senior BPP staff, the Doongerwadi manager and the volunteers the mourners were not inconvenienced. In fact many mourners felt on 21st August the farewell they bid to their loved ones felt extra special. God Bless all the dedicated volunteers who I feel should be Rewarded and Recognized and NOT the mercenaries.
- There was no need for the Union to created pulav daar and masoor daardrama. We know who ate and drank what on New Year.
- I was the one championing peace talks and negotiation till 20th August 2018. However, sadly, the hour of negotiation and peace talk is now over. The BPP will now proceed as per law and as advised by labour law experts
- We all appealed and pleaded for just a bit more time. But the Union carried out its threat and failed miserably and lost all sympathy. Not just sympathy of the BPP, but, the community! Now let the law take its own course.
- We offered Mr. Naterwala Peace but he and his President Ms. Chandbibi broke our trust to Pieces.
- With apologies to Queen Marie Antoinette, I would now like to tell Mr. Naterwala, “if you can’t eat pulav daar, eat masoor pav!”
- All respect and sympathy has been lost because the Union has played with the sentiments of the community and tried to achieve their object at the cost of holding mourners at Doongetwadi at ransom.That the Union did not succeed in their poor strategy is because of the risk management abilities of this Board.
- While concluding, I would only say: “Good luck Mr. Naterwala… you will need lots of it, I assure you. You lost my respect and sympathy the day you decided to play havoc with my community and its sentiments at doongerwadi.”
- This Board is kind. But do not mistake our kindness for weakness.
Noshir H Dadrawala
Trustee – BPP
.
Re: The Editorial ‘Cause Good Deeds Deserve Mention!’
Dear Anahita, I truly respect you for doing a good deed also in highlighting return of trust property by Jimmy and Sherry Ghaswala as an editorial in Parsi Times. I always used to wonder as to why BPP doesn’t have places to give when our community numbers are so quickly fading away, and the cat is out of the box as you have aptly stated in your editorial.
Many of our fellow Zoroastrians want to hold on to more than one Trust property, some for reasons like “ek mara chokra ne maate and ek mari dukti panse to tene maate”. In the process our masa/masi or kaka/kaki or fuwa/fuijis trust flat are kept locked while our youth who wishes to start their new wedded life is waiting in queue.
Also, like Jimmy and Sherry Ghaswala, there are many fortunate fellow Zoroastrians who have settled abroad for over a decade and are doing extremely well, and for sure they do not wish to come back to India, but still want to hold on to the Trust property for the 10 days visit that they make once in two years! My question to them is “can you not think of staying at a 3-4-5 star hotel as per your capacity during your visit to India as you do during your vacation, and as we all stay at Navsari and Udwada also in a hotel room and spare the precious Trust property for the remaining 11 months for your fellow community members???”
Some might say that we work in Gulf, and there one does not get citizenship, and eventually one has to return back to base, in which case it is fair enough to keep your parents/your flat but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE it’s a humble request to all fellow humdins to handover more than one flat to the Trustees and end the queue of 700 applicants. If we do at least this bit selflessly, then 50 per cent of the pending list of applicants will get a roof over their head!
Also, a kind request to our Honourable Trustees….. Sir, the colonies and baugs were built by our forefathers with the aspect of giving it for free to working class community members and not for wealthy and rich. However, these days there is an influx of small and medium level industrialists who sell off their ownership flats and have taken over places in various colonies, contrary to the Trust Deeds. For these wealthy families of our community, who also wish to stay within the community, my request to our Honourable Trustees, we have abundant land parcels in our colonies like Malcom Baugs, please build small villa structures or row houses and charge a deposits of 2 crores and 1 crore and maintenance charges as applicable by BMC. This will help us to recover the current financial position and keep the trust activities ongoing like doles to extremely poor members and providing medical assistance. Also, out of these funds, build towers of 22 floors in one of the Baugs and make it spacious 2 and 3 BHK and once again make it available for people who can afford to pledge 50 lakhs deposit, but please do spare the existing properties which our forefathers had built to accommodate the weaker section of the community.
I hope and pray our community bounces back to the glory of olden days era where the rich used to donate towards the wellbeing of the less fortunate to bring about betterment in lives of all fellow Zoroastrians. Happy New Year to all members of the community.
Gev Dalal (gevdalal@gmail.com)
An Earnest Appeal To Pallbearers
This is not the first time that the mazdoor union leader is blackmailing the BPP trustees. Being a member of the community he is aware how a strike by the pallbearers will affect the bereaved families. On such important matter the trustees should stand united and face the challenge with firm resolve. Thanks to the volunteers who offered their services, the crisis was averted.
The trustees and the community have always been gracious and compassionate to the khandhias. They are never considered in the class of ordinary sweepers, gardeners and watchmen, but are serving the community in a very special way. They are assured of better service conditions and higher remuneration than the other class four workers. They should not fall victims to the treacherous union leaders, who, use them as vulnerable tools to blackmail the trustees.
The trustees should hold a meeting with the pallbearers, invite some honorable members of the community whom they trust, sort out their problems and persuade them to disassociate themselves from the union. Once they resign from the union, they will not only earn the goodwill of the community but will be rewarded in more ways. We spend a substantial amount for funerary expenses, we can afford to give some extra amount to each pallbearer as service fees. The community offers ashodads voluntarily with a big heart, and stand by them in hard times. I earnestly appeal to all the pallbearers to trust the community who cares for them, and whatever their grievances are, the BPP trustees are there to solve them.
Piroja Homi Jokhi (piroja.jokhi@yahoo.com)
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