Sunder Sham Arora — from stall owner to big-time realtor

Tribune News Service

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, October 17

Arrested by the Vigilance Bureau on Sunday, former minister Sunder Sham Arora has seen a meteoric rise in his financial status in the past decade or so.

Old-timers share that Arora’s father Gurdita Mal Arora owned a petty egg stall in Garhdiwala area of Hoshiarpur in the early 1980s, where buyers were also served liquor. Arora used to help his father in this stall. The former minister, who jumped from the Congress to the BJP recently, also did his matriculation, his maximum qualification, from Garhdiwala town.

From there, his family shifted to Hoshiarpur in the late 1980s and started a business in wool yarn along with a partner Shadi Lal. The latter went on to become his closest aide in his realty business, too, and eventually Arora became one of the biggest realtors and colonisers in Hoshiarpur. Even his assets details attached with his 2022 Assembly poll shows him as the owner of nearly 90 properties worth over Rs 45 crore.

Two of the colonies in Hoshiarpur are named after Arora himself. The two schools that the family runs are named GMA School after the name of his father Gurdita Mal Arora. His family also owns a private Shivam Hospital in the heart of the city. His son Pareek Arora owns two marriage banquets - Wedlock and Janpat - in 25 per cent partnership. Arora is also learnt to own a prominent commercial eatery in the city. He was also recently getting a hotel constructed near the eatery. He was also into realty business in Mohali.

Arora is learnt to be well-connected with former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and former Union Minister Ambika Soni, who, too, hails from Hoshiarpur. It was perhaps the latter who helped him in his elections in 2017 when he first won and became a minister.

Since his arrest yesterday, the residents of Hoshiarpur are in a state of disbelief that it was AIG Vigilance Manmohan Sharma, who got him trapped. Sharma and his brothers were reportedly his closest aides for the past 15 years. Both the families hailing from Hoshiarpur were well-connected and Arora is also learnt to be at times staying with Sharma during his earlier visits to Chandigarh.

Ex-minister owns 90 properties

• Former minister Sunder Sham Arora’s assets details furnished during the 2022 Assembly elections show him as the owner of nearly 90 properties worth over Rs 45 crore
• Two colonies in Hoshiarpur are named after Arora himself. His family owns GMA School, which is named after his father Gurdita Mal Arora, and a private hospital in the city
• His son owns two banquet halls in 25% partnership. The former minister is also learnt to own a prominent eatery in the city and was recently getting a hotel constructed near it

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