BMC To Restore Iconic Parsi Gate At Charni Road By April 2024

The Mumbai Coastal Road Project might be operational next year. For this project, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) dismantled Parsi Gate at the Marine Drive promenade, two years ago.

Now, the civic body is planning to restore the same glory of Mumbai, but the gate will be built 75 meters away from its original position.

Some media reports state that the famous stone building, which is highly respected by the Parsi community, will be reinstalled on Charni Road, across from the Taraporewala Aquarium.

Chief Engineer Of Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP), Mantayya Swami,  said that We still haven't connected the new promenade to the current promenade despite the ongoing construction of the coastal road. After the promenades are completed, the steps will be constructed and the Parsi Gate will be installed 75 meters away. Our goal is to finish this project by April.

The architectural plan for the new placement of the Gate has already received approval from the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC), said BMC officials. According to Swami, the Marine Drive promenade qualifies as a designated heritage structure even though the Gate itself is not.

A senior civic official said that as the project’s part, they will build a pedestal on which the original Malad stone of the gates will be placed. They will also build steps through which people can step towards water. The senior civic official also stated that they have finished the works on the RCC architectural drawing, and structural designs.

Reopening the Gate will undoubtedly cheer up the Parsis, who would flock to it to worship their Water Goddess Ava Yazad until it was taken to pieces in April 2021. The Gate is designed in the style of historic Parsi architecture, with two five-meter stone pillars.

Residents of the community claim that Bhagoji Keer and Pallonjis from the Shapoorji Pallonji Group constructed the Parsi Gate in 1916. During Poornima, Hindus would also visit the location to submerge offerings in the ocean.

BPP members started an online petition and wrote to the local officials in an attempt to stop its relocation. In order to protect the Gate, the architects even created a backup plan that would have involved reorienting the tunnels for the coastal project.

In spite of all the back and forth, over the course of several days, the Gate was brought down, pillar by pillar.

The Gate's sanctity and identity have, nevertheless, been preserved at the new location, according to conservation architect Rahul Chemburkar of Vaastu Vidhan, the company hired as a consultant on the MCRP.

According to Chemburkar, the gate's procedures have been meticulously recorded. After that, the stones were piled in a secure area. They intend to relocate the identical stones that have the same composition as part of the restoration project.

Senior BMC officials have stated that the Mumbai Coastal Road Project, which was originally scheduled to open by the end of November, is likely to begin operations in the first half of 2024.

The deadline has been extended by seven months, according to a statement made on November 9, by Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal. This is because various parts of the high-speed corridor project have undergone design changes.