Deep in debt, flat buyers form body

“We have just come together as a group. We do not really know what to do, we only want our money back,” says LS Prashanth, an apartment buyer in the Prime Sristi multi-storey project which collapsed last month.

Over 55 buyers who had invested in the project have come together to form “Moulivakkam Trust Heights Affected Flat Buyers Association”. Today, they met near the construction site where huge banners warn people not to go inside.

Prime Sristi Prime Sristi had launched the residential project at Moulivakkam on the western outskirts of Chennai with two buildings of 11 floors each. One of the towers crashed on June 28 killing over 60 construction workers. The Tamil Nadu government has appointed a one-man inquiry commission into the incident.

Ratna Mishra, a mother, and an employee in an infrastructure company, who has bought an apartment in the project, had hoped to be living in the house by the time her daughter completes school in a few years. Now “I hope I am able to get my money back,” she says.

According to the Association representatives, over 70 buyers have invested their life’s savings to purchase the apartment. But, with the building now destroyed, they are now burdened with huge bank loans. One buyer said, “After rent and paying bank interest on loan, I will have no money for day-to-day living.” This is a common refrain that could be heard among the group.

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