The draft Development Plan (DP) 2034, a blueprint for the city's land use over the next two decades, has left a few members of the Parsi community upset. Two fire temples which are located on the Tardeo Road are likely to lose a part of their land under the DP prepared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The two fire temples — Sethna Agiary and Boyce Dhana Patel Agiary —which are more than 130-years-old are situated on Javaji Dadaji Marg, opposite Bhatia Hospital in Tardeo.
Community activists recently learned that part of the grade-2 heritage fire temples have been demarcated under the new road-line plan of the draft DP. The activists then met Tardeo's MLA, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, to discuss the issue and put forward their concerns. The two temples, situated a few meters away from each other, will lose a part of the premises of the fire temples.
Rustom Irani, social activist and a resident of Tardeo, who got to know about this development, said, "In 2016, the part of the opposite side of the road, where there are residential buildings and chawls, were marked for road widening. The authority had asked for suggestions and objections then. But after revising the drafted plan in 2017, without taking any suggestions and objections, the authority has marked the road-line on Agiary side for the setback. The road is marked in a curvey shape due to which both the fire temples are affected."
MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha said, "We won't let the authority harm the fire temple. I will be submitting a letter to the Urban Development Department next week and request them to revise the plan."
Speaking about the plan, Burjor Mehta, Trustee of Sethna Agiary, said, "I got to know about this recently. If such proposal is made, then we will oppose it. We will have to check since we are not aware of the wrong marking."
