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Journalism of Courage
Udvada, a quaint, seaside town in Gujarat’s Valsad district, holds special significance for the Parsi community. Housing the revered Zoroastrian Iranshah Atash Behram temple, considered one of the oldest fire temples in the country, the town sees several Parsis living in Western India, particularly, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara, visiting it for pilgrimage.
Of late, though, the dilapidated condition of the National Highway-48, which connects Ahmedabad to Mumbai, has also had an impact on the access to Udvada, prompting the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) to recently write a letter to the Union Minister of Transport, Nitin Gadkari, urging that the road from Mumbai to Talasari at the Maharashtra-Gujarat border be immediately repaired. Invoking fundamental rights, the BPP said the repair was needed to avert a “death trap” for community members and senior citizens.
The NH-48 route through the Talasari junction is the sole road to reach Udvada from Mumbai and Pune, pointed out a member of the Punchayet.
Back in Udvada, the letter has given hope to members of the local Parsi community who said they have been seeking “restoration and repairs” of the highway to its original state to ensure they can count on the route for their daily commute as well as in the event of a medical emergency.
Udvada high priest Khurshed Dastoor told The Indian Express that he has raised the issue with the local MLA, Cabinet Minister Kanu Desai, as well as Valsad Lok Sabha MP Dhaval Patel in a meeting on Tuesday and has been assured that the roads will be repaired soon. “In the larger interest, we have raised the issue of the roads leading to Udvada, although the roads within our town are in good shape… The MP as well as the MLA have assured us that the highways will be repaired as soon as the monsoon ends…”
A significant aspect of the BPP’s letter is the mention of Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of the Tata Group, who died three years ago after his car met with an accident on his way back from Udvada to Mumbai.
Said Dr Adil Malia, one of the seven trustees of the BPP, “We have been highlighting this issue since Mistry’s demise at the exact same spot (the highway). Furthermore, besides the poor condition of the roads, there is also lack of regulation from the traffic police with even large vehicles such as trucks coming from the wrong side.”
BPP wrote the letter to the Union ministry on September 3, exactly three years after Mistry’s demise on September 4, 2022.
Malia said, “To us, our pilgrimage to Iranshah — which is the highest form of holy fire — is akin to visiting Mecca. Since a large community of Parsis is settled in Mumbai and Pune, the NH-48 route through the Talasari junction is the sole road for them to reach Udvada. However, now these roads have become like a death trap and our community has to face immense hardships to reach our holy place…”
Malia said due to the poor condition of the road and lack of regulations, the commute, which should “ideally take 3 to 3.5 hours”, now takes anywhere between five and six hours.
Dastoor said members of the Parsi community usually arrive at the Iranshah to mark Behram Roj — which falls in the first week of each month. “Those arriving from Mumbai often recount their experience of driving through the highway… Since we are a small community, around 100-200 members come every month. The current situation with roads has meant a slight drop in the numbers… Also, most of the important religious events of the year are complete for now,” said Dastoor.
For Udvada Anjum member Zarir Dastoor and his wife Rukshana, the condition of roads has become a source of worry, especially in light of the possibility of a medical emergency. Rukshana, in her 60s, said, “Twice in the past, my husband suffered heart attacks but since the roads were in a good condition back then, the ambulances could reach the hospital in Vapi in time… We do not have a single hospital in Udvada. I dread to think what it would be like in today’s time when travelling to Vapi takes over an hour due to the terrible road conditions… Those who are physically active are mostly opting for trains to travel to Mumbai but even getting to the station is a harrowing experience and we often detour to Daman to avoid the potholes on the highway to Vapi.”
On the BPP’s letter to Gadkari, another member of the Parsi community, who runs a hotel in Udvada, said, “Mistry’s death continues to haunt the community. Many frail and old Parsi community members have skipped visiting Udvada this year from Mumbai. While many of them have weekend homes in Udvada, a number of them stay in hotels… The business has seen a dip this season by a significant margin.”
Notably, this monsoon has witnessed massive traffic jams, some running into several hours, on the NH-48.
In its letter to the Union Ministry, the BPP wrote: “All we ask (for) are our basic fundamental rights to good roads and a safe passage for all so that precious human lives are not further lost due to poor road conditions and deliberate negligence of road contractors.”
Speaking to The Indian Express, Valsad Parliamentarian Patel said that apart from repairing the roads using a White-Topping Technology, plans are also in consideration to expand the scope of Udvada as a tourist destination. Patel said, “We are going to use the road white-topping technology (laying concrete over the bituminous road) to find a permanent solution so that roads are not damaged during the monsoon… We have seen that no matter how many times we use hotmix technology to repair the roads with patchwork, the rains and movement of traffic are leaving it undone…”
He said, “In October, we will undertake this white topping on the entire stretch from Vagaldhara to the Maharashtra border so that next year, the travellers as well as residents of Udvada do not face the same issue. A similar road has been built from Palsana to Hazira… Meanwhile, the Expressway will also be ready.”
Patel said constant repair of the existing highway is being undertaken during no-rain days to ensure that the bottlenecks at Bagwada and Karambeli are resolved. “For the short term, we are continuing to repair the roads with hotmix as and when we have dry spells. There has been a bottleneck at Bagwada toll naka and a vehicle has been kept on stand-by there to continuously complete the patch work… We also did one such job in Karambeli and the situation has improved there…,” he added.
Speaking about Udvada, Patel said, “We have a plan to bring about further development in Udvada. We are working on an Udvada Development Authority and exploring what other tourist attractions can be added to the Parsi village. We will also look into the scope for widening the roads that are currently under the aegis of the District Panchayat. We have support from the Parsi community.”
(With inputs from Nayonika Bose in Mumbai)
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