
Regional Growth Summit at Indore, land availability in three districts to be shown
: The Madhya Pradesh govt will showcase lands available in Indore, Ujjain, and Dewas to attract big investors to fulfil their infrastructure-related needs at a
Regional Growth Summit
scheduled on May 16 at Brilliant Convention Centre."Indore,
Ujjain, and Dewas are three big cities of MP, which are adjacent and have witnessed rapid development in all sectors.
Simhastha 2028 has further boosted growth in this region," principal secretary Sanjay Shukla said. There is a need for land for investors, industries, and commercial establishments in almost every sector. So, the state govt has decided to hold a regional growth summit to showcase the availability of land in Indore Ujjain and Dewas, he said."There are some central govt agencies that have developed industrial parks, and their land bank will also be showcased in the summit to attract investors," he said. Various agencies, including Indore Development Authority (IDA), Ujjain Development Authority (UDA), Dewas Development Authority (DDA), housing board, MPIDC, municipal corporations, CREDAI, tourism board, and Smart City Development Limited, have been roped in to hold the summit.Participants from various cities, including Indore, Gwalior, Dewas, Bhopal, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Jabalpur, and Neemuch, are expected to attend the summit, which will be inaugurated by chief minister Mohan Yadav. He will also hold one-on-one discussions with potential investors.Apart from showcasing
land availability
, the govt agencies are likely to provide information on land use and market rates, official sources said adding that following success of this summit, similar events will be held in other regions.
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Safepoint executives didn't respond to requests for comment. Slow to downgrade Even before Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana, Lighthouse Property Insurance, which owned Hart's insurer, was under financial stress. State regulators who put the company under a confidential form of court-approved oversight in July 2021 said it had amassed underwriting losses of $159 million over the prior 5½ years. After the storm hit that August, Lighthouse racked up more than $400 million in losses, far more than the company's $316 million of reinsurance would cover, according to court filings. Yet Demotech didn't pull its A rating for Lighthouse until March 29, 2022—more than six months after the hurricane hit and just one week before regulators took control of the insolvent insurer. Petrelli said Demotech had relied on assurances from the company's management that financing would be forthcoming. The Journal's analysis showed that Demotech didn't pull its A grade from any insolvent insurer until less than a year before the insurer's collapse. After Hurricane Ida damaged Nadia Hart's home in LaPlace, La., her insurer imploded. She said it covered only a portion of what she said were the damages. Hart said remaining needed repairs are stalled. Demotech's late-stage downgrades have 'absolutely made a lot of people in Florida's insurance market question 'what does this [rating] really mean?'' said Kyle Ulrich, chief executive of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents, a trade group. Petrelli said the timing of ratings withdrawals varied by insurer, and that in some instances competitors were slower to pull ratings. He said Demotech has sometimes issued ratings on insurers that were lower than its competition. When insurance companies fail, outstanding claims by customers like Hart are supposed to be covered by 'guaranty associations,' safety nets created by states and funded by other insurers. When a guaranty association takes over a contested claim from a failed insurer, there can be long delays in getting paid, according to lawyers representing policyholders. Delayed decisions Kevin Verret's home in Westlake, La., was pummeled by hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020. A contractor put the damage at around $145,000, he said, but his insurer, Maison Insurance, paid him just $27,000. Verret contested the payout. The claim was still being disputed when Maison, which had been rated 'A' by Demotech, collapsed in 2022, leaving Verret stranded in a property with no working bathroom or kitchen. Verret's lawsuit against Maison, filed weeks before its insolvency, was taken over by the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association. The case isn't due to go to trial until next year, he said. The 42-year-old Air Force veteran drives to his father's every day for a shower and a meal. A hole in the wall of his own home is covered by a tarp. 'I've had a litter of kittens in my house,' he said. 'I don't own a cat.' All told, Louisiana's guaranty association has taken over 42,000 pending home-insurance claims from insurers that collapsed between 2021 and 2023, said Executive Director John Wells. About 1,700 of those claims, including some from Lighthouse and Maison, still aren't resolved, he said. Long delays in adjudicating those claims mean policyholders frequently pay out of pocket, even if they eventually win their cases, said Verret's lawyer, Cate Biggs Vosbein. Wells, the association's executive director, said the organization has to balance protecting policyholders with ensuring that payouts are reasonable. He said the association is working with the policyholders' lawyers, mediators and the courts to resolve the remaining 1,700 claims. He declined to comment on individual cases still before the courts. Kevin Verret's home in Westlake, La., was pummeled by hurricanes in 2020. His insurer collapsed while he was disputing the payout, he said, leaving him unable to complete repairs. Verret's lawsuit against his insurer was taken over by the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association. Hart said she has been entangled in a yearslong back-and-forth with the state guaranty association, which is contesting her lawsuit seeking a higher payout. 'It's horrible,' she said. 'It's just something I want to get past.' She had purchased her home in LaPlace in 2020, the first she's ever owned, using a payout from an accident at work that left her permanently disabled. Hurricane Ida, she said, left it with more than $150,000 in damages. Her insurer Lighthouse disputed her damages claim, paying just $10,380 before it collapsed, and the guaranty association has so far paid only $7,201 more, according to her lawyer. Lawyer Mark Montiel, who is representing Hart, said insurers heading toward insolvency often lowball damage estimates, leaving the policyholder to fight with the guaranty association that takes over the claim after the company fails. Hart said she's used all the money that was left over from her workplace payout to repair some of the damage that Lighthouse didn't cover. She said repairs to her roof, walls and windows—'some not opening, some not locking, some cracked'—remain stalled. 'It was a beautiful home,' she said. 'Ida took everything away from me.' Write to Jean Eaglesham at Susan Pulliam at and Caitlin Ostroff at A Tiny Company Is Vouching for Risky Insurers in Hurricane Country A Tiny Company Is Vouching for Risky Insurers in Hurricane Country A Tiny Company Is Vouching for Risky Insurers in Hurricane Country A Tiny Company Is Vouching for Risky Insurers in Hurricane Country A Tiny Company Is Vouching for Risky Insurers in Hurricane Country