TEAM HERALD
CANACONA: Welcoming the arrest of two builders in the Ruby Residency collapse, investors who had bought flats and homes from the builders are hopeful that work on other properties of the builders, which have been frozen by the government since January 2014, could resume at the earliest.
For over a year, several hundred other investors, who were not linked to the ill-fated Ruby Residency building, had been regularly demanding the speedy arrest of those guilty for the Ruby Residency collapse, in order to expedite work on other properties of the builders.
These investors of other buildings at Ruby Residency complex as well as two other properties of Bharat Developers at Nagarcem and Devabhaga-Palolem, had been left stranded as the government had suspended all licenses and occupancy certificates issued to the these structures developed by the builders. The government had also attached properties worth an estimated Rs 17 crore from these builders in various parts of the state.
For some investors, however, the resumption of work on their properties is more important than the arrest of the builders.
“We as apartment owners just want work to begin and we get possession of our apartments as soon as possible. In this sense, the arrests are of no consequence to apartment owners at all,” said Amit Basu from Delhi, an investor at Bharat Heights.
Other investors were reluctant to speak on record, but were hopeful that their properties would be released by the state government, following the arrest of the two builders.
“My question is, what will happen now following the arrest? Will the government address the plight of us investors,” asked one investor of Ruby Residency.
Another investor added, “It is time that the government hastens with its investigations and releases our properties without further delay. At least, the government can now spell out its roadmap for investors to get back our properties.”
Many of these affected investors had even petitioned several authorities, including Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, while some had even gone to court to get the government to de-freeze the properties of the builders.
