While the pandemic affected the real estate sector in the country, a gradual return to normalcy is triggering new growth in this crucial sector. It is to recognise and honour the efforts of real estate developers -- people that play a crucial role in straddling the domains of the broader economy as well as giving shape to people's dreams -- that TV9 Bangla hosted an awards ceremony in Kolkata.
TV9 Bangla, a part of the TV9 Group, organised Real Estate Excellence Award 2022 titled “Bhalo Basa” at ITC Sonar where different real estate companies across various segments were felicitated. A total of six real estate and allied companies were awarded in the evening for their outstanding and exemplary work in the field during the past one year.
The real estate sector is a unique and significant part of the economy that concerns both the broader economy and the individual in equal measure.
While it is directly linked to the fortunes of multiple labour-intensive sectors such as iron and steel, cement, brick, paint, chemicals, electricals, sanitaryware, interior design items thereby proving employment, it also concerns the individual customer since it is easily the biggest transaction a common citizen conducts in his lifetime and involves a lot of planning and 'dreaming' that one nurtures over the years.
"The real estate sector plays a huge role in urban planning. Government of West Bengal has extended all possible help to the real estate companies to make the city world class. Specially after the Covid pandemic, a lot of relaxation and support were given to all the players on behalf of the state government,” said Firhad Hakim, Minister-In-Charge, Transport, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs and Housing, Government of West Bengal.
Minister of State for Finance, Health and Family Welfare, Land and Land Reforms, Refugee and Rehabilitation of the Government of West Bengal, Chandrima Bhattacharjee was also present at that event on Tuesday evening.
“Real estate infrastructure is very important for a state. And we, on behalf of the state government, have extended all possible support to the real estate companies during and after the pandemic. We are currently under RERA and our Chief Minister gave us clear instructions to support the real estate sector since this sector plays a huge role in boosting the state’s GDP," Bhattacharjee said.
The awards went to the following categories: In luxury residential segment, Jain Group won TV9 Bangla excellence award. In mid segment- Merlin group emerged as the winner, followed by the Sun group winning the best MIG housing project award, and Unimark group winning the award for the best commercial projects in the state.
Excellence in Affordable Housing award was awarded to Raghav Griha Nirman, and Urvashi Basu's Excellence in Interior Designing was also recognised with an award.
Two interesting panel discussions were held during the evening. While one was titled ‘Kathamor Karigor’, the other was named ‘Swapner Bari’.
Prominent personalities such as artist Suvaprasanna, architect Milan Dutta, interior designer Urvashi Basu participated in ‘Swapner Bari’ that dealt with the need for aesthetics in designing homes at a time when people are spending more and more time indoors due to the exigencies of the pandemic.
In ‘Kathamor Karigar’, Gaurav Beriwala from Shyam Steel, Nirmalaya Kumar from Berger Paints and Bidisha Sarkar from SBIHM (Subhas Bose Institute of Hotel Management) were the speakers.
In his welcome speech, Amritanshu Bhattacharya, Managing Editor, TV9 Bangla, said, “The real estate is a sector that has huge multiplier effects. It involves the most expensive transactions of an average citizen’s life. The sectors that are directly impacted by real estate sales are by themselves big employers. These are, Iron and steel, Cement, Paints, Electricals, Sanitaryware, Interior decoration items and others.”
The event was co-presented by Dear Lottery and Co-powered by Shyam Steel. Associate Sponsors of ‘Bhalo Basa’ were Benarasi Niketan and Damro.
The hospitality partner of the event was Subhas Bose Institute of Hotel Management and Dewar’s Highball Soda Water was the beverage partner.