‘Cyrus Mistry liked travelling by road, eating Maharashtrian food’

Former bureaucrat Ganesh Jagtap says he will miss Cyrus Mistryrsquos compassionate nature and love for Maharashtrian food The former chairman of Tata Sons was killed in a car crash near Mumbai on SundayA compassionate soulldquoVery humble compassionate and down to earth That is how Cyrus was when we first met He was always like that He was very fond of roadside food like vada pav pav bhaji and tea from roadside vendorsrdquo Jagtap said recalling some of their trips in Maharashtra and GujaratAlso read Mumbai Motorists vent ire over risky highway after Cyrus Mistryrsquos deathPolice security at JJ hospital where postmortemMistry was fond of Maharashtrian food in particular he said Jagtap a former deputy collector who also served as an aide to former home minister R R Patil said Mistry used to call him whenever there was a land acquisition matterLoved travellingldquoHe always liked to travel by roadrdquo Jagtap said adding ldquoHe preferred road travel even when the option of air travel was availablerdquo ldquoHis striking characteristic was his down to earth attitude and simplicityrdquo Jagtap said ldquoDuring our site visits he used to inquire about employeesrsquo health and well being He would come out of his office to drop me to my carrdquoThe bureaucratturnedentrepreneur who lives in Thane said he accompanied Mistry to Gujarat at the latterrsquos insistence for land acquisition for a port ldquoWhen fresh land acquisition received local opposition the rates were revised and a higher compensation was offeredA rare virtueCyrus decided to apply the revised higher rates to people whose land was already acquired even though legally he was not bound to do sordquo Jagtap said He decided to pass on the benefits to owners whose land was acquired as per the old rates he said This decision entailed an additional cost of Rs 15 crore but he bore the brunt he addedldquoSuch virtue is rare His one decision changed the outlook of people towards the company and they cooperated in further processes as wellrdquo Jagtap said ldquoHe used to recommend me to others He went out of the way and helped me Such generous and warm treatment is rare and I will miss it for surerdquo he saidHis last rites todayThe last rites of Cyrus Mistry who died on Sunday will be performed in Mumbai on Tuesday his family said Mistryrsquos funeral will be held at the Worli crematorium at 11 am Since the Worli facility opened in 2015 a growing number of Mumbairsquos Parsis are choosing to cremate their deceased loved ones instead of consigning them to the traditional Towers of Silence to be consumed by vultures02No of people killed in the crash on SundayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever