Businesswoman Asha “Ms Ram” Merchandani leaving Liquidation Centre building for the final time just after 7 a.m. yesterday.
The doors at the Liquidation Centre building on Bay street, yesterday closed for the final time under the watch of the Royal Barbados Police Force officers.
Businesswoman Asha “Ms Ram” Merchandani watched helplessly as personnel from the Ministry of Housing and Lands took possession of her Liquidation Centre building on Bay street, yesterday.
She exited the premises for the final time just before 7:30 a.m. with her personal effects and minutes later was read the warrant to seize by police and by 7:50 a.m. the locks were placed on the building.
Heartbroken, Ms. Ram told The Barbados Advocate, “I feel God will take me away tomorrow.”
“I was only asking for four more weeks,” she declared, explaining that she took the government to court on Saturday November 16, to seek an urgent application to prevent them from taking possession of the building which houses Furniture Limited and Tiny Tots Limited.
The property was acquired by Government through the compulsory acquisition process of Parliament, with the notice to acquire having been served on the owners, the Ram Merchandani family, since March this year. This property forms part of the tourism footprint identified by the Mia Mottley Administration for a number of hotel developments, including the new Hyatt.
On Sunday, press secretary to the Prime Minister, Roy Morris, said that the November 4 deadline to turn over possession of the property to the Government had not been met, but indicated that the company wrote Government asking for an extension of occupancy until January, 2020, while Government rejected on the grounds that the company had been given more than enough time to complete its relocation.
“Honestly, I feel absolutely broken with the behaviour; the way it was done,” Ms. Ram said.
“We only asked for the additional weeks because we wanted to say thank you to Barbadians. We wanted to thank them for shopping with us over the years by giving a sale of 40 per cent on the goods, so they can make their children happy for Christmas. Unfortunately, the judge rejected our application, and yet we are in negotiations, and now they are forcing us to go to court to do whatever we have to do.”
Moreover, Ms. Ram made it clear to The Barbados Advocate that she has no objection with the government of Barbados wanting to set up Hyatt, however expressed, “Although they say it is for public purpose, technically and legally it is not public purpose because they are taking from one place to give it to the other.
“We have been running a business here from 1993. It is a running business. You cannot treat a running business and tell them get out. That is why I called my sale a ‘Kick Me Out Sale’.”
When word of the closure trended across social media on Sunday, Barbadians flocked to the City business, and a visibly tired Ms. Ram said she closed doors at 3 a.m. on Monday.
“I was at this location from 8 a.m. on Sunday. The people kept coming and coming, they won’t leave. I had to close the doors at 3 a.m. because we were so tired. The cars lined right up the street and the people crowded the gate. People heard across social media that I needed help and they came by,” she noted.
“As it relates to the remaining stock, we have to wait on word from the Ministry of Housing who have taken over my land to tell us what to do. I don’t think what I was asking was unreasonable,” she added. (TL)