Mumbai: Soon after the demand for a “waqf-like” board by Parsis to manage their properties, members of the community have begun to prepare a list of properties that they want to be controlled by the Parsi Anjuman of India.
Members of the community met officials of the National Minority Commission (NMC) during their recent visit to the city and put forth their demand to have a waqf board-like body (that manages properties of the Muslim community) to regulate their properties across the country.
“It was a historic meeting of prominent community members with the NMC panel. All those present were satisfied with the proposals discussed with the NMC chairman. We are now preparing a list of the defunct Anjumans,” Dinshaw Mehta, chairman of Bombay Parsi Punchayet, told PTI from London.
He added that most of these properties are in the mofussil areas of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
“We are very positive that our community will be assisted to a large extent within the legal parameters,” Mehta said.
The NMC panel was on a two-day visit to Mumbai from March 27, where it met representatives of minority communities including Muslim, Parsi, Sikh, Christian, Jain and Buddhist.
About 50 eminent Parsis met the NMC panel on the day two at the office of Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), in presence of NCM chairman Naseem Ahmed and member Dadi E Mistry.
The other demands included five per cent reservation for the community in Parsi educational institutes and representation in the Parliament.
The community also wants the government to encourage universities to start courses on Zoroastrian studies that would cover the rich history and dying dialects of the community.
Incidentally, the BJP-Sena Maharashtra government has appointed a new chairman for the state minority commission, but relieved all other members from their posts.