Pune, April 04: The prominent real estate firm, Panchshil Realty, owned by Pune-based businessman Atul Chordia, has hit the headlines after Maharashtra’s leader of the opposition, Eknath Khadse, drew attention to stock holdings in the firm by Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule, and her husband Sadanand.
Khadse pointed out that the Panchshil Tech Park is located on the same controversial survey number in Yerawada (191A) close to the DB Realty’s commercial complex under construction.
Khadse alleged that it was the jailed DB Realty partner, Shahid Balwa, who had applied for environmental clearance for the two projects.
Atul Chordia, director of Panchshil Realty, told DNA his project was on the same survey number as Balwa’s, but denied any connection with the latter.
Khadse had alleged that the Yerawada land records were manipulated by the then Pune district collector, Shriniwas Patil, who went on to become the NCP MP from Satara.
While Khadse’s allegations are yet to be proved, the fact is that Sharad Pawar, Atul Chordia’s father Ishwardas and Shriniwas Patil were college friends while studying at Pune’s Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) in Pune.
Ishwardas Chordia hailed from a family of wholesale sugar dealers in Bhawani Peth. Atul Chordia’s forays into real estate through Panchshil Realty have shown a meteoric rise, especially since the 1990s.
Panchshil Reality, the flagship company of the Chordias, was floated as a real estate and project management consultancy company in 1996. The company has to its name eight residential projects, in posh localities, six IT parks, three corporate parks, the EON IT Park under the special economic zone (SEZ) in Kharadi, three five-star hotels and three retail projects.
The posh Satellite Towers on Mudhwa Road (Koregaon Park extension) was the first luxurious residential project that brought Panchshil Reality into the limelight. Panchshil Hotel and Panchshil Club in Pimpri-Chinchwad were some of the earliest projects of the group.
Significantly, this firm also bagged the Rs300-crore contract to construct the ICC Trade Towers complex on Senapati Bapat Road. The Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, (MCCIA), which was then headed by Sharad Pawar’s brother, Pratap Pawar, had lobbied heavily for this project.
Atul and his brother Ajay Chordia primarily manage the family’s business interests. While Ajay’s business interests are concentrated in the twin township of Pimpri-Chinchwad, Atul looks after the group’s stakes in Pune.
Atul Chordia acknowledged his family’s ties with Sharad Pawar.
—-Agencies