Dadar Parsi Colony

Dadar Parsi Colony
—  neighbourhood  —
Dadar Parsi Colony Location of Dadar Parsi Colony in Mumbai and India
Coordinates	19°01′13″N 72°51′14″E / 19.0203°N 72.8538°E / 19.0203; 72.8538Coordinates: 19°01′13″N 72°51′14″E / 19.0203°N 72.8538°E / 19.0203; 72.8538
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
District(s)	Mumbai City
Civic agency	MCGM
Ward	F North
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 13 metres (43 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 400 019 , 400 014

Dadar Parsi Colony (officially Mancherji Joshi Parsi Colony) is a Parsi colony in Mumbai. It is situated in the locality of Dadar-Matunga. Unlike the other Parsi Colonies (also known as 'baugs' literally gardens) is it not surrounded by a wall or fence and is not isolated from its surroundings. The colony is close to the Famous Five Gardens created by Sir Mancherji Joshi, a famous Parsi.

The Dadar Parsi Youth Assembly (DPYA) High School lies in this vicinity.

History

This area was established for Parsis through the efforts of Mr Mancherji Edalji Joshi, the founder of the Dadar Parsi Colony (M Joshi Colony).

The area was built by the British under the Dadar-Matunga-Wadala-Sion scheme of 1899-1900, the first planned suburban scheme in Bombay. The Bombay City Improvement Trust formulated this plan in order to relieve congestion in the centre of the town, following the Mumbai plague epidemics of the 1890s. According to the survey plan, 60,000 people were to be housed at Dadar-Matunga and an equal number in Sion-Matunga. 85,000 people were to be accommodated in the developments in Sewri-Wadala.

The plans regulated constructions with emphasis on proper sanitation. No building was to be more than three storeys high, and the buildings were to have open spaces between them. The land-use was planned to be a mix of residential, commercial and institutional constructions. Parks and gardens were planned, and the streets were well laid out.

440 acres (1.8 km²) of land was procured and leased to the government for selling. For the first time housing cooperatives were formed to take advantage of newly developed land. The Parsi and Hindu colonies in Dadar and the Tamil colony in Matunga were developed in this way.

Dadar was 6 mi (10 km) away from Crawford Market by the newly constructed Mohammedali Road. The tramways were extended to this new suburb. The GIP constructed a bridge, now the Tilak Bridge, connecting the two suburban railways. Soon, in February 1925, the GIP Railways opened their suburban line, and started the work of electrifying the railways. Among the institutions which moved here according to the BCIP plan were the VJTI, the Sydenham College of Commerce and Wadia Vachha now known as J.B.Vachha high school for parsi girls

The colony is home to an estimated 15,000 or more Parsis, which is by far the largest concentration of Parsis in Mumbai, and possibly the World.

Near Future

Duncan Brown and Daniel Patching will be visiting from the UK.

References

• Dadar, Matunga, Wadala, Sion {GFDL}