Shri Ratan Chowdhary - Panchdeep Construction
Shri Ram Ratan Chowdhary
শেষ আপডেট: 6th August 2024 15:04
Majestic Tower to Ring Road, industrialist Ratan Chowdhary shares his dreams about Howrah
The Wall Bureau: When people think of Howrah, the first thing that comes to mind is usually Howrah Station. Some even joke, "We don't know there's a Howrah beyond the station." However, even without India's oldest and largest railway station, Howrah's heritage is not diminished. From Asia's oldest Botanical Garden to Shibpur IIEST, Howrah has a lot to boast about. And in a few years, that list might include the country's tallest observatory 'Panchdeep' tower. Set to be built in Bellilious Park, the 400-foot-tall Panchdeep Construction tower will surpass both Delhi's Qutub Minar and Kolkata's Shahid Minar. At the top will be a luxurious hotel!
Panchdeep Construction's head, Ram Ratan Chowdhary, is behind the grand plans currently buzzing across Howrah. Locals fondly know him as Ratan Chowdhary. His company, Panchdeep, has undertaken several projects, including the Howrah Stadium, Lake Land Country Club, and the massive Platina Mall built in erstwhile Banabasi Cinema Hall. Panchdeep has also expanded beyond West Bengal to Patna, Guwahati, Raipur, Bhubneshwar, and Gangtok.
আরও পড়ুন
The tower might be inaugurated in a few months. Mr. Chowdhary told The Wall, "I've always wanted to build a tower accessible to the general public. It should be open to everyone. Even someone earning five thousand rupees a month should be able to visit!"
His ancestral home is in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. His father moved to Kolkata in the 1940s, before independence, and they have been permanent residents of Howrah since. Born in Howrah in 1956, Ram Ratan spent his childhood there. His father passed away when he was just twenty. He started his education at Belur Ramakrishna Mission and later attended Narsingh Dutta College in Howrah. He recounted, "I started working in 1980. I must have been around twenty-three or twenty-four years old. I plunged into the business." Initially, Ram Ratan focused on construction. They would take land from owners and construct buildings, with a 60-40% agreement: three parts of the flats would be sold, and two parts would be given to the landowner. This model benefited both the builder and the landowner. "This scheme wasn't common back then. I introduced it in 1982. In Howrah alone, I have built over two hundred buildings. Later, I worked on many government projects in Agartala, Koraput, Raipur, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, and others. I also worked with the railways," Ram Ratan said.
During the Left Front's rule in West Bengal, with Jyoti Basu as the chief minister, Ram Ratan's experiences mirrored the general sentiment about industrial decline during that period. He said, "In my line of work, there wasn't much union trouble. But when I built Lake Land Country Club around '97-'98, the unions infiltrated. We had to feed them in the restaurant, often at the cost of guests. It was a tough fight to keep the place running. The union issues subsided when the Trinamool government came to power, and things improved significantly."
Ram Ratan's Panchdeep focuses mainly on Howrah, a highly congested area with severe traffic problems. He proposed a ring road to alleviate traffic issues. "Howrah is full of narrow lanes totalling about seventy kilometres. Most of these lanes are just ten to twelve feet wide, barely allowing two cars to pass. If you consider Howrah's history, it developed alongside Kolkata. Kolkata had the wealthy, and Howrah was an industrial area, a 'labor town.' In the last twenty-five years, Howrah's prime locations have developed somewhat. There is already a twelve-kilometre ring road, with three kilometres still two-lane and the rest four-lane. If we can connect the two-lane section with an overpass merging into Bankim Bridge, it will become four-lane," Ram Ratan explained.
Despite his detailed plan, the ring road hasn't been realized. "If this ring road were built, it would greatly ease traffic. Everyone, including the police commissioner, mayor, and municipal chairman, agreed, but the government not responded yet," he remarked.
Among Panchdeep and Ram Ratan Chowdhary's various businesses, shopping malls are significant. Panchdeep has built multiple malls in Howrah, including Aurobindo Mall in Salkia, AC Market, and Howrah Trade Centre. Their flagship projects include Guwahati's Central Mall and Star Mall on MG Marg in Gangtok. Ram Ratan and his team are now expanding into smaller towns, like the V1 Mall in Maslandapur, North 24 Parganas.
Why Maslandapur, far from Kolkata? Ram Ratan explained, "People's purchasing power is increasing, not just in cities but also in suburbs. India's economy is heading towards four trillion dollars, soon to be five trillion. If this money is divided among the population, the per capita income has doubled in the last ten years and will continue to grow, increasing purchasing power. Thirty years ago, we didn't have TVs or refrigerators, which are now necessities. As purchasing power grows, so does the demand for shopping malls. Today's generation prefers shopping malls for shopping, eating at food courts, and watching movies. This trend is spreading to smaller towns!"
Ram Ratan's business mainly focuses on eastern India, including Kolkata, Patna, Raipur, Guwahati, and Bhubaneswar. When asked to rank these cities in terms of business potential, Ram Ratan regretfully placed Howrah as a laggard. "The administrative support or initiatives are lacklustre. The biggest issue is that taxes are not collected properly, which is also the responsibility of the citizens. The municipality has arrears of several hundred crore rupees. Without proper tax collection, how can it function?" he questioned.
Despite not being a Bengali by birth, Ram Ratan speaks fluent Bengali and holds Bengalis in high regard, he says “He is a Bengali by deed”. "At one time, Bengalis led the country in many fields—lawyers, doctors, educated people. Unfortunately, the during the left government, red tape and red flags stifled intellectual growth. However, Kolkata is resurging now, and he is hopeful for a better tomorrow," he concluded.
