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Its been a while i wanted to know who was the person after which largest town of karachi was named. Today i finally got my time to do some digging about the person behind it and it turns out to be Mr. Jamshed Nuseerwanjee mahta. Jamshed town is named after him. He was the 1st mayor of the port city of Karachi.
He was born on 7th January 1886 in a well off Parsi family in Karachi. His early education is completed in Parsi Rabadi School after that he joined N.J.V School and in 1900 went to D.J Sindh College for further studies than he enrolled in Daver’s Commercial College Bombay for training as a business executive.
After completion of his education he joined his family business company Nusserwanji & Co. on father’s wishes. After that he joined Karachi Municipality as a councillor for six year term. He represented his parsi community in municipality for twelve years there he was elected 1st Mayor of Karachi (1933-1934) where he was able to change Karachi from a small fishing village to a economic hub of that time. He was a visionary person with the background of business family he built the city on a business style. He built wider roads, drainage system and planted shady trees along the sides of the wide roads. Those who were able to witness that time of karachi they told younger generation that he not only helped people without dividing them on cast and creed but also made a water trough for the animals. Streets of the city were washed daily at night. He was the man behind the 1st ever planned Residential area for middle class segment of society known as Jamshed Quarters. He was surely the builder of the Modern Karachi. He was also the founding member of Pakistan Boy Scouts Association. He was a member of Karachi Theosophical society and helped expanding it. He helped established the prestigious Mama Parsi School in Karachi. After doing such a tremendous work for Karachi He passed away on 1st August 1952 but he will be remembered whenever we talk about history of modern Karachi.
A memorable saying of Jamshed Nuseerwanji Mahta is following:
” The true aim of social work is to give opportunities, amenities and right direction to those who lack these to enable them to take a step forward in the right direction”
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