Clarification Of Letter By Homi Dalal

Dear Editor,

The Trustees of The Zoroastrian Radih Society have read an article in the Letters To Editor segment appearing in Parsi Times dated 25th June 2016, Page 4, written by a Parsi gentleman named Homi Dalal and supported by Gev Dalal by his article dated 02nd July 2016. In this respect, the Trustees wish to clarify and submit the following:

• The Letter To Editor in Parsi Times is misleading and confusing the members of the community regarding the land for which Slum Rehabilitation Authority has advertised in Business Standard — a widely read publication published from in 10 cities in India.

• The advertisement in Business Standard referred by Homi Dalal refers to an application made by Sahyog Homes for declaring the listed CTS Nos. and corresponding H No. to be a declared as Slum Rehabilitation Area under Sec 3 C (1) of the Maharashtra Slum Area (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971.

• The captioned land being severely encroached, an eye sore to the residents of the colony and a cause of financial strain to the Trust, it has been decided to dispose encroached slum land, following due process as applicable to the Charitable Trust.

• The developers who have acquired neighboring slum plots have showed interest in acquiring the plots as it helps them to put up a comprehensive plan for redevelopment under SRA Scheme.

• The Slum Lords and Imla Maliks lay their claim on the land as they had encroached the property during the era of Urban Land Ceiling Act which denied the Trust to develop any vacant land but permitted slum lords to encroach the land with impunity.

• The Trust has constructed 12 buildings (340 fIats) and offered 263 flats to the members of the community at cost as approved by the Hon. Charity Commissioner. A Dadgah is also constructed for the benefit of the community members. The Trust has constructed a building comprising 112 tenements for slum dwellers and Patra Chawl slum dwellers and has created space to construct a building. The vacant land belonging to both the Trust is put to community usage judiciously

• Efforts are on to construct two more buildings by utilising the space created and by removing some Patra Chawl residents against whom court cases are filed by the Trust.

• The task of removing slums and rehabilitating them is cost prohibitive, causing unnecessary additional burden on the finance of the Trust.

• The Trustees deny that the community is losing its ancestral properties due to apathy of the Trustees. We are writing this to clarify and put correct facts on record so that no wrong impression is carried about the Trust and its Managing Committee and Trustees.

To remove confusion among the members of the community, the Trustees have clarified as above which may be published at the earliest

The Zoroastrian
Radih Society Trustees