TEAM HERALD
CANACONA: Claiming that Bharat Developers & Realtors Pvt Ltd is keen to honour its commitments given to its investors, the company’s new director has claimed that the government’s “unrealistic action” and legal wrangles had prevented them from fulfilling their promises.
“We want to help the investors, but our hands are tied up by the State government’s unrealistic action of attaching all our properties and freezing our accounts,” said Amit Arondekar, one of the two new directors of Bharat Developers & Realtors Pvt. Ltd.
Arondekar along with another director, Karen Grover, were roped in by the company as new directors, a month after the Ruby Residency tragedy, as replacement to the two ex-directors, Jugdeep Kumar Sehgal and Pardip Singh Birring.
“Since a year now, we are trying to commence works at the company’s two projects at Bharat Heights (Nagorcem) and Palolem Plaza (Devabhaga-Palolem), but our requests have been pending before the government.”
“We agree that the investigating agencies were unable to trace the whereabouts of our ex-directors, but can that be an excuse for wrongful attachment of all our properties and keeping our accounts frozen and thereby increasing the sufferings of several people,” asked Arondekar.
When reminded that the government had acted after 31 people had died, while several others were injured in the collapsed building, Arondekar shot back: “We as a company also share the grief along with the families of the victims. But it was an accident and we appreciate that the government has already appointed a panel to probe the matter and take corrective measures to hold people responsible for the tragedy. But attaching other properties in the Ruby Residency tragedy has only increased the sufferings of over 250 people.”
“The government cannot ignore the sufferings of investors who purchased properties at Bharat Heights (Nagorcem) and Palolem Plaza, as these are completely separate projects. We also have obligations to all investors at Ruby Residency, where one block has collapsed, to rebuild the same. But long delay in legal battle is a setback for us in helping the investors.”
“As a company, we are always supportive and have assisted investigative agencies, but the long delay in filing of the charge-sheet and keeping our properties attached, besides keeping our bank accounts frozen for so
long, have, in fact, affected
our investors as well,” Arondekar said.
