Those who had purchased apartments in the multi-storeyed Trust Heights that crashed at Moulivakkam last month are clueless on how to recover the money they spent on the flats. They say they have not received any help thus far from the State government on the modalities involved.
The erstwhile owners, having waited for nearly two weeks, recently came together to form Moulivakkam Trust Heights Affected Flat Buyers Association.
On Sunday, they met the media to highlight their woes. The association comprises 53 of the 72 buyers. They said that each buyer is staring at a crisis, having spent anywhere between Rs. 35 and Rs. 80 lakh for the apartments.
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K.F. Kannan, a Gulf returnee, who has been unemployed for more than a year, invested all the money he had earned in Dubai in the flat. Mr. Kannan said his life too came crashing down along with the apartment complex.
Ravi Shankar, a marketing executive with L&T, said he had booked a flat costing Rs. 56 lakh on the eighth floor and already paid Rs. 39 lakh. Mr. Shankar said: “All the money my father got when he retired from BSNL — Rs. 31 lakh — was invested in this property. I arranged the remaining amount through a bank loan for which I was paying Rs. 25,000 as EMI.”
He has been advised by the bank to pay the EMI to avoid being listed under non-performing assets (NPAs) and end up ineligible for future loans.
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Mr. Shankar said all the flat buyers had received an email from the flat promoter in which lightning was stated to be the reason for the collapse. They had been assured that all the stakeholders would be adequately compensated once the legal proceedings were over. But since then, the flat promoters have been arrested and the buyers have not received any further communication from the company.
The flat buyers are also unhappy that the State government that was proactive with regard to those who lost their lives is not showing any concern towards the “financially dead” buyers.