Chairman of the Melcom Group, Bhagwan Khubchand-Ani, has finally broken his long silence over the tragic incident that befell his company last Wednesday, claiming several lives and leaving many with injuries.

DAILY GUIDE had a brief interaction with the mega-store boss over the weekend after management of the company visited victims of the disaster at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.

First was the question of how he felt about the incident.

The 75-year-old man, who has virtually lived all his life in Ghana, said, “I am very much a part of it; I suffered loss of lives of our dear workers. It is a very unfortunate incident. This thing has completely shocked us- devastated us completely.”

Below are excerpts of the interview DAILY GUIDE (DG) had with Bhagwan.

DG: What struck you about what happened; is it the cost or the lives involved?

Bhagwan: The lives; the lives.

DG: You are not thinking about the cost?

Bhagwan: No! Not at this time; maybe it might dawn on us after a month or two…but right now the major concern is that we try as much as possible to save as many lives as we can and (ensure) that those who have been hurt badly and injured are well taken care of.”

DG: I’m sure you have heard a lot of speculation; some saying Melcom should be held liable for what has happened. How do you respond to that?

Bhagwan: Well, the building did not belong to us; we did not put up this super structure. We rented it and started using it from January this year…just 10 months plus. We are rather the victims; how can we be held responsible? As far as I am concerned, I see myself as a victim.

The building, the super structure had a grand appeal, I must be honest with you…a glass tower housing another bank on the same yard; the Standard Chartered Bank, a reputable bank indeed. I obviously assumed that the builder, the landlord, the developer (referring to Nana Nkansah Boadu) is a person of repute whose product is acceptable. So that gave us some kind of strength that indeed the place is suitable for a shop. The location is very nice.

We asked the landlord what was the purpose of the building and he said shops, banks and offices; so we found it suitable for a shop because that is the only trade I am in and after we agreed to the terms, he took 13 months to complete the building. We signed the agreement in October 2010 and we started occupying the place in January 2012…so if you are saying that we should be held responsible, I don’t see why.

DG: Concerns have also been raised that Melcom uses the top floor of most of its building as a warehouse. Was that a contributory factor?

Bhagwan: First of all, let me tell you; this is not true. It’s a department store, it’s not a warehouse, it is not a wholesale. We have a 200,000 square feet warehouse less than 2 kilometers away from our Achimota branch. What heavenly reason can we possibly have in wanting to always stock the place when we can supply the goods to them every blessed day as and when the need comes?

What heavenly reason can we possibly have in keeping more goods than necessary? I’d prefer to use every square inch of our place in display rather than use it for a warehouse.

If I were a wholesaler, that would have been purely different. I am purely simply a retailer. I sell piece-piece; nobody comes to me and buys by cartons. So why am I sending extra goods as a warehouse and keeping it all there? For what reason? There is no heavenly reason; this is absolutely incorrect.

DG: You’ve been going round the hospital visiting a couple of the victims…what have you been telling them and what necessitated this initiative?

Bhagwan: I first visited them the very first day of this unfortunate incident. I met each and every one of them at the 37 Military Hospital, Police hospital. The 37 Military Hospital has the maximum number of people; visited each and every one of them, consoled each and every one of them personally along with my Managing Director. So obviously, we are extremely concerned for the well-being of our people.

Those who are hurt, I assure them that I am 100 per cent behind them and that they have nothing to worry about. As far as the doctors’ bills or their injuries apply, we will take full responsibility for that.