Mukesh Ambani demands that "Antilla" be made separate state!?

Palash Biswas

Mukesh Ambani demands that "Antilla" be made separate state!

Mukesh Ambani demands that "Antilla" be made separate state?

Mainstream media has not broken the news,but the information surfaced widely. I am not sure.

Is there anyone to confirm or deny?

However, I am not surprised.

We Indian citizens have no sovereignty at any level which Mr.Ambani and his industries do enjoy.ONGC and oil companies have been reduced and subjected to disinvestment.Gas prices just doubled for reliance while UID linked gas consumers have been deprived of subsidy. Every petro minister has been on Reliance payroll. The government of India has been constantly complying  to reliance industries interests long before the incarnation of reforms god!

Reliance supremo Mr Mukesh Ambani is to decide who would be the next prime minister.

Provided he demands statehood for Antalia, the government of India should be obliged.

Mind you!

Follow @TheUnRealTimes

Moments after the Congress Working Committeeannounced the bifurcation of a separate Telangana state, Reliance industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani has made a similar demand, that his residence Antilla, dubbed as the world's most expensive residence, be granted statehood.

Speaking to The UnReal Times business correspondent Dharubhai Manghnani the tycoon said, "Why not? Antilla is like a state in itself. Each floor is like a district and each room on a floor is like a city. It is only right that this be made a separate state, so that it makes it easier for me to ..err..the government to govern it. Mumbai can be the joint capital of Maharashtra and Antilla, until I decide which floor of Antilla to adjudge as the capital of the state."

"The Mumbai Indians team name can stay intact as long as Mumbai is the capital of Antilla. Once I make my decision on the capital, the team name will have to be changed, of course" Ambani hastened to add.

The UPA government has reacted positively to the demand, saying that it will be fulfilled ASAP. "It is widely believed that Antilla, not Delhi, is India's real seat of power. So the least we can do is grant it statehood replete with its own assembly, dummy Prime Minister and even a Pappu," said Finance Minister Chidambaram. "With a state like Antilla, no one can claim anymore that Gujarat is India's most prosperous state," added Mani Shankar Aiyar. "That honour will belong to Antilla which will also be India's most secular state."

Antilla is the only home that we have in the world: Nita Ambani

All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: May 17, 2012 18:09 IST

New York:  Billionaire Indian industrialist Mukesh Ambani's wife Nita describes their 27-storey Mumbai house Antilla as a "modern home with an Indian heart" and the "only home we have in the world."

The ultra-luxurious 400,000 sq feet Ambani mansion and its contents continue to fascinate people not only in India but also abroad. Vanity Fair, which interviewed Nita last November, will publish a few pictures from inside Antilla in its June edition, giving a sneak peek into what has been described as 'The Taj Mahal meets flash Gordon."

"The closed door policy has only piqued the worldwide fascination that has surrounded the edifice," the magazine said of Antilla.

Contrary to speculation that the Ambanis had not moved into their home as it did not conform to the ancient Indian architectural doctrine of 'vastu shastra', Nita told Vanity Fair that they had moved into the house around September last year and some of the media reports about their house were "exaggerated."

"This is the first time I am talking about my home. There have been exaggerated reports in the media about it I must say," she said in the article 'The Talk of Mumbai,' the title referring to Antilla.

"We moved in two months ago. And then it was going around that we have not moved in. It is a modern home with an Indian heart...It is the only home that we have in the world," she said in the interview which was conducted in November.

A New York Times report last October had said the Ambanis had not moved in to their new home, considered one of the most expensive private residences, and family members only slept there "sometimes".

Nita told Vanity Fair that the whole house is based on the theme of sun and lotus. Exquisite materials like rare woods, marble, mother of pearl and crystal were used to craft the shapes of the lotus and the sun in the building.

Ambani said rooms for the family are at the top of the high-rise to let in plenty of sunlight. The family quarters "sit at the pinnacle. We made our home right at the top because we wanted the sunlight. So it is an elevated house on top of a garden," Nita said.

Of the eight pictures that accompany Vanity Fair's article, one shows Nita in a red and pink saree standing in a brightly lit porch near one of the several terrace gardens of her home with a marbled dome structure in the background.

Another picture shows her reading a book in one of the expansive and exquisitely decorated living areas, with tall pillars and glass windows through which Mumbai's high-rises are visible.

The other shows large statues of Hindu gods Ganesha and Shiva and perfectly manicured gardens. The house also has multi-storey garage, ballroom, spa, theatre, guests' suites and terraced gardens.

Vanity Fair said like any Indian housewife Nita keeps a track of the weekly kitchen spending and waits for her husband "with candles lit and supper ready" to come home from office which is typically at 11 at night.

"I like to have everything smiley and happy for my husband. Men don't want to see a grumpy face at the end of a hard day," it quotes Nita as saying.

The article also talks about the series of enterprises that Nita has built in the past years that are "proud success stories in contemporary India" like an international preparatory school, a premier league cricket team, the nation's first braille newspaper in Hindi and a 400 acre model township that  houses 12000 people.

"For a modern maharaja living in Mumbai, a peninsular city where land is in particular short supply, there is nowhere to go but up and up the Ambanis went," it read.

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1. Mukesh Ambani demands that "Antilla" be made separate state | The ...

2. www.theunrealtimes.com/.../mukesh-ambani-demands-that-antilla-be-ma...‎

Antilia (building)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Antilia (building)
* Antilia as seen from Altamount Road
General information
Status	Completed[1]
Type	Personal Residential
Location	Altamount Road, off Pedder Road, South Mumbai
Coordinates	*18°58′6″N 72°48′35″ECoordinates: 18°58′6″N 72°48′35″E
Construction started	2005
Completed	2010
Opening	5 February 2010
Cost	Officially $500–700m[2]
Owner	Mukesh Ambani
Technical details
Floor count	27
Floor area	37,000 m2(400,000 sq ft) of living space
Lifts/elevators	9
Design and construction
Architect	Perkins + Will
Structural engineer	Sterling Engineering Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Main contractor	Leighton Holdings

Antilia is a 27-floor residence in South Mumbai belonging to businessman Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries.[3][4] A full-time staff of 600 maintains the residence, reportedly the most expensive home in the world.[5]

Contents

 [hide]

• 1 Name and location

• 2 Construction

• 2.1 Controversies

• 3 Cost and valuation

• 4 Public reception

• 5 See also

• 6 References

• 7 External links

Name and location[edit]

The building is named after the mythical Atlantic island of Antillia. Antillia, according to Aristotle, was a huge island in the Atlantic.

Construction[edit]

Antilia as seen from Altamount Road

Antilia was designed by Chicago based architects, Perkins + Will. The Australia-based construction company Leighton Holdings began constructing it.[6] The home has 27 floors with extra-high ceilings (other buildings of equivalent height may have as many as 60 floors).[7] The home was also designed to survive an 8-richter scale earthquake.[8]

Controversies[edit]

The transactions surrounding the acquisition of the land on which this building is constructed, as well as various aspects of the construction and design of this building seem to raise significant issues of regulatory malfeasance and corruption among the various parties involved.[9]

In 2002, this property was purchased by a Mukesh Ambani controlled entity - Antilia Commercial Private Limited from the Currimbhoy Ebrahimbhoy Khoja Trust, in direct contravention [10] to section 51 of the Wakf Act.[11]

This land was owned previously by the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Yateemkhana (Orphanage). This charitable institution had sold the land allocated for the purpose of education of underprivileged Khoja children to Antilia Commercial Private Limited in July 2002 for 21.05 crore (equivalent to 443 crore or US$6.8 million in 2013).[12] The prevailing market value of land at the time was at least 150 crore (equivalent to 3,157 crore or US$48 million in 2013).[13][14][15][16]

The Waqf minister Nawab Malik opposed this land sale and so did the revenue department of the Government of Maharashtra. Thus a stay order was issued on the sale of the land. Also, the Waqf board initially opposed this deal and filed a PIL in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the trust. The Supreme Court while dismissing the petition asked the Waqf board to approach the Bombay High court. However the stay on this deal was subsequently vacated after the Waqf board withdrew its objection on receiving an amount of 16 lakh (equivalent to 34 lakh or US$52,000 in 2013) from Antilia Commercial Pvt Ltd and issued a No Objection certificate.[17][18]

In 2007 the Allahabad government said the structure is illegal because the land's owner, the Waqf Board, had no right to sell it, as Waqf property can neither be sold nor transferred.[5]Ambani then obtained a No Objection Certificate from the Waqf Board after paying 16 lakh and began construction.[5] In June 2011, the Union government asked the Maharashtra government to consider referring the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation.[19][20][21][22]

In regards to the three helipads, the Indian Navy said it will not allow the construction of helipads on Mumbai buildings, while the Environment Ministry said the helipads violate local noise laws.[5] Issues have also been raised with regards to the construction of an illegal carpark.[23]

Cost and valuation[edit]

Indian media has frequently reported that Antilia is the world's most expensive home costing between US$1 and 2 billion.[24][25][26] Thomas Johnson, director of marketing at architecture firm Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates that was consulted with by Reliance during building floor plan design, was cited by Forbes Magazine as estimating the cost of the residence at nearly $2 billion.[27] In June 2008, a Reliance spokesman told The New York Times that it would cost $50–$70 million to build.[28] Upon completion in 2010, media reports again speculated that, due to increasing land prices in the area, the tower may now be worth as much as US$1 billion.[29][30]

Public reception[edit]

Tata Group former chairman Ratan Tata has described Antilia as an example of rich Indians' lack of empathy for the poor.[31] Tata also said: "The person who lives in there should be concerned about what he sees around him and [asking] can he make a difference. If he is not, then it's sad because this country needs people to allocate some of their enormous wealth to finding ways of mitigating the hardship that people have."

Some Indians are proud of the "ostentatious house", while others see it as "shameful in a nation where many children go hungry".[4]Dipankar Gupta, a sociologist at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, opined that "such wealth can be inconceivable" not only inMumbai, "home to some of the Asia's worst slums", but also in a nation with 42 percent of the world's underweight children younger than five.[4] Recently Ratan Tata said that "It's sad Mukesh Ambani lives in such opulence ole".[32]

Author activist and trained architect [33]Arundhati Roy questioned whether the "Ambanis hope to sever their links to the poverty and squalor of their homeland and raise a new civilisation" through Antilia.[34]

See also[edit]

• List of tallest buildings in Mumbai

References[edit]

• Jump up^ Reeba Zachariah. "Residence Antilia, Mumbai, India". Emporis.com. Retrieved 29 July 2010.

• Jump up^http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/business/worldbusiness/15ambani.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

• Jump up^"A peek into Mukesh Ambani's $2 bn Mumbai home". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010.

• ^ Jump up to:abcdMumbai Billionaire's Home Boasts 27 Floors, Ocean and Slum Views by Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, October 24, 2010

• ^ Jump up to:abcd Headlines Today Bureau. "Mukesh Ambani all set to move into world's costliest house: India : India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. Archived from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2010.[dead link]

• Jump up^"Oh brother, spare me the time - World". smh.com.au. 2 August 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2010.

• Jump up^"Personal Green Skyscrapers - The 60 Story Antilia House (GALLERY)". Trendhunter.com. Retrieved 29 July 2010.

• Jump up^ Kwek, Glenda (15 October 2010). "India's richest man builds first $1-billion home, Antilia, Ambani". Melbourne: Theage.com.au. Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.

• Jump up^http://www.firstpost.com/politics/mukesh-ambanis-house-an.tilla-under-govt-scanner-53260.html

• Jump up^http://www.samayindia.in/business-news/89-cbi-to-probe-mukesh-bhais-antilla

• Jump up^Mukesh Ambani's new house – Antilla | aavaas

• Jump up^"State may refer Ambani's Wakf land deal to CBI". The Indian Express. 2 August 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2012.

• Jump up^ Madhurima Nandy (5 August 2008). "Altamount Road in Mumbai is world's 10th dearest address". Livemint. Retrieved 2 June 2013.

• Jump up^"Residential Land in Walkeshwar Mumbai South - for sale". 99Acres.com. Retrieved 2 June 2013.

• Jump up^"Lodha secures Mumbai land for Rs 4,053 cr". Business Standard. 26 May 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2013.

• Jump up^"SC rejects plea to stop work on Mukesh mansion". Business Standard. 3 May 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2013.

• Jump up^[1][dead link]

• Jump up^"Mukesh Ambani pays 16 lakh to Wakf board, gets NOC". Ibnlive.in.com. 9 July 2007. Retrieved 2 June 2013.

• Jump up^Ambani dream house stands on shaky ground - Yahoo! India Finance

• Jump up^ Makarand Gadgil (1 August 2011). "Maharashtra govt to review Ambani home land deal". Livemint. Retrieved 2 June 2013.

• Jump up^"News # 020613-145152]". Newkerala.com. Retrieved 2 June 2013.

• Jump up^"Centre wants CBI to probe Mukesh Ambani home deal". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 2 June 2013.

• Jump up^"Nod for Mukesh Ambani's Antilla parking lot illegal - Mumbai - DNA". Dnaindia.com. Retrieved 2 June 2013.

• Jump up^"Mittal's address more expensive than Ambani's - Money - DNA". Dnaindia.com. 4 August 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2010.

• Jump up^"Indian industrialist to build rs2000 "home" amidst Mumbai's multimillion slum-dwellers". Asian Tribune. 7 June 2007. Retrieved 17 November 2010.

• Jump up^"Mukesh Ambani's new abode worth billion - Business News - IBNLive". Ibnlive.in.com. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2010.

• Jump up^"Inside The World's First Billion-Dollar Home". Forbes.com. 30 April 2008. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2010.

• Jump up^ Giridharadas, Anand (15 June 2008). "Indian to the Core, and an Oligarch". The New York Times.

• Jump up^"Man Builds Himself a Million Dollar Home". Mumbai, India:ABC News. Retrieved 7 August 2009.

• Jump up^ Woolsey, Matt (1 May 2008). "Mukesh Ambani's US$2 dollar home world's most affordable". New Delhi, India: Times of India via Forbes. Retrieved 7 August 2009.

• Jump up^"'Antilla', Mukesh Ambani's house, shows lack of empathy for poor: Ratan Tata". The Times Of India. 22 May 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2011.

• Jump up^ The author has posted comments on this article (22 May 2011). "'Antilla', Mukesh Ambani's house, shows lack of empathy for poor: Ratan Tata - The Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 June 2013.

• Jump up^http://www.luminarium.org/contemporary/arundhati

• Jump up^Capitalism: A Ghost Storyoutlookindia.com. Retrieved 9 November 2012

External links[edit]

• Most Expensive Home in the World has 27 Floors and Slum Views - slideshow by the LA Times

• Antilia is the world's most expensive house for $1 billion -Luxurylaunches

• [2] It's sad Mukesh Ambani lives in such opulence: Ratan Tata

• [3] $1 Billion Home in India Empty Because of Superstition

• [4] World's most expensive house lies abandoned... because billionaire owners believe it would be bad luck to move in

Categories:

• Skyscrapers in Mumbai

• Houses completed in 2010

• Residential skyscrapers in India

• Postmodern architecture in India