Mayor orders to recover loan given to parkomat developer

Kolkata: Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya has decided to slap a notice to the developer of the twin parkomats in the city after there were allegations of financial irregularities in several deals between the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the developer, Simplex Projects Ltd.
Last week, The Indian Express reported that the KMC was silent on the recovery of Rs 3 crore loan that was given to the developer nine years ago and it is yet to be repaid.
In 2000, before executing the Rawdon Street parkomat project, Simplex Projects Ltd had told the civic body that it is facing problem in mobilising fund for the project. This was followed by a Mayor’s order in December 2000 on the basis of which, a supplementary agreement was prepared with the developer that included a clause of providing advance of Rs 3 crore to the developer. However, the loan became an interest-free though according to the agreement that was approved by the then Mayor it was supposed to be a soft loan.
Meanwhile, during the last nine years the civic authorities never tried to make the developer repay the loan. Since the loan is an interest-free one, the civic body has lost revenue which is yet to be estimated.On Tuesday, Mayor directed his office to take all the necessary steps to get the money back. “We were not aware of the loan earlier. But after being aware of the loan we have to get it back from the developer. Notice will be served to the developer and steps will be taken soon,” said Bhattacharya.
Moreover, he added, that he is yet to know how the soft loan became an interest-free loan. “After checking the papers, it is found that the approval of the civic authorities was for a soft loan. But we are yet to know that how the developer got an interest-free loan violating the agreement. We are looking into the matter,” added Bhattacharya.