Mohalla panel pioneers hail late sheriff

Former sheriff of Mumbai and industrialist Fakhruddin Khorakiwala who passed away last week at the age of 93 was a pioneer of sorts. In the days when shopping options in Mumbai were largely limited to standalone stores, he set up the Akbarallys chain of departmental stores in 1956. As a business pioneer, he founded the Fair Trade Practices Association and was involved in the activities of the Indian Merchants Chambers, the Advertising Standards Council of India and trade associations. 

But as the city sheriff in 1992-93, Khorakiwala brought dynamism to a post that had largely become ceremonial. He founded the Peace Committees that worked to bring peace in a riot-wrenched city. Later, these groups were the models for the Mohalla Committees that brought police and people from varied religious and social backgrounds to work for peace in sensitive neighbourhoods.

“He coined the words ‘Mohalla Ekta Committee’,” said former IPS officer Satish Sawhney who was the police commissioner at that time.

Dr Arif Ali Sayed whose group Saki Naka Social Welfare Association provided post-riot relief to victims in the Saki Naka-Powai area was one of those who was invited to the sheriff’s office in the sessions court building. “It was in July 1993. Khorakiwala had sent people to Bhiwandi to study

the Mohalla Committees there. When Mumbai was burning in December 92 and January 93, Bhiwandi, which is known to be communally sensitive, was calm. Khorakiwala wanted to start such groups in Mumbai,” said Sayed who has preserved the letter he received from Khorakiwala asking him to come to the first meeting. 

When former city police commissioner Julio Ribeiro returned from abroad, the baton of the peace committees was passed on to him. The Mohalla Committee Movement Trust (MCMT) was set up in 1995. Lal Mohammed, a member of the MCMT said, “I met Khorakiwala at a few meetings. The peace committees helped maintain peace. So, in a way, he was the first to experiment with the idea in Mumbai. According to Sahney, the Mohalla Committees helped maintain peace after the post Babri Masjid riots.

“When riots took place, he rallied citizens of Mumbai and asked them to work for communal harmony. Khorakiwala’s idea succeeded to a great extent. It was his personality that did it; it had nothing to do with his post as sheriff,” said Sahney. 

“The Mohalla Committees have diffused many potentially riot-like situation in the city, especially during the Gujarat riots. If the city was free of riots at that time, it is because of these groups,” said Lal Mohammad.