Of the six landlords who control more than 10% of Bombay’s land, five are Parsi — the Godrej family (3,401 acres), F. E. Dinshaw Trust (683), Jeejeebhoy Ardeshir Trust (508), the A. H. Wadia Trust (361) and the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Group (261), notes a report in the Hindustan Times (HT) of October 16, 2024. The third biggest land holding is that of Pratapsingh Vallabhdas Surji’s family (647).
"The city is spread across an area of around one lakh acres of which the habitable portion is around 34,000 acres, as per a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) survey,” noted the report. "(The city) is home to some of the biggest landowners who own almost 20% of the total land parcels in the financial capital.”
The Godrej family owns property in Vikhroli. According to the report, "Due to reservations, there are limitations with regard to the construction potential of these particular plots,” say experts.
The second largest, the F. E. Dinshaw Trust, owns land banks located in Malad and surrounding areas. Dinshaw, a solicitor-financer and landowner who died in 1936, left behind huge land banks for the family that have from time to time been acquired by the government or monetized. The land parcel owned by the Jeejeebhoy Ardeshir Trust is located in Chembur while the A. H. Wadia Trust owns property in Kurla. Quoting media reports, HT stated that "in the early 20th century, the Cama family of Mumbai Samachar managing the trust owned almost one-third of the land in Chembur.” The Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Group owns land in different parts of Bombay. "Sir Byramjee Jeejeebhoy received seven villages totaling 12,000 acres from the East India Company in 1830. According to reports, he also owned Bandra Land’s End, where the Taj Hotel now stands,” as per the news report.
Apart from the above, other private landlords such as the Sir Muhummed Yusuf Khot Trust, V. K. Lal family among others also own large land parcels in the city’s Kanjurmarg and Kandivali areas.
Parsiana requested city historian and founder of Khaki Heritage Foundation, Bharat Gothoskar, on November 8 to give us the background for this enormous land ownership. "Since medieval times, India had village landlords who would collect taxes on the agricultural produce of the village on behalf of the rulers. They could take many names and forms — Zamindar, Deshmukh, Khot, etc. When the Portuguese took over northern Konkan, their capital was at Bassein or Vasai. Far-off villages, especially on the various islands of Bombay, were given to Portuguese aristocratic families to administer and they were referred to as Foreiros or Vazadors. They would collect taxes on behalf of the government and maintain these ‘estates’ by building roads and sinking wells.
"When the British started ruling the city, this concept continued and many villages were given to various wealthy people including Marathi Hindus and Konkani Muslims. But the wealthiest community in the city was the Parsi community. Obviously, they got a lion’s share of the land on Salsette island,” Gothoskar informed.
Much of the lands once owned by Parsis "have been taken over by the government for infrastructure projects, parts have been sold, while other parts have been encroached upon and now house massive slum colonies,” the historian said.
Arguably, the most famous estate was Powai which was looked after by Framji Cowasji Banaji, noted Gothoskar. "He sent a consignment of mangoes from his Powai estate to Queen Victoria almost two centuries ago. They say this was the first mango she ever tasted in her life.”