Mahendra Singh Dhoni quit as Amrapali Group's brand ambassador on Saturday.
Days after unhappy residents of Amrapali Sapphire in Sector 45, Noida, launched a social media campaign against the developer and tagged MS Dhoni, asking him to dissociate himself from the realty firm, the Indian cricket captain decided to step down as the ambassador of Amrapali Group.
Anil Sharma, CMD of Amrapali Group, told City Spidey that Dhoni was no longer its brand ambassador. "His name and reputation are being affected because of his association with the brand," he said. "It was a mutual decision to have him discontinue as the face of the brand. The company, however, has given buyers the assurance that all their issues will be sorted out within 90 days."
In a press conference earlier this week, Dhoni had said that he would take up the complaints of the irked residents with Amrapali, and added that the builder should keep its promises. "... If you see the economy... it is quite tough for the builder as of now. But at the same time, whatever is promised, I think needs to be met," he had said.
About 900 families have already moved into Amrapali Sapphire, but civil and electrical work in many towers still lay incomplete, said residents. The residents' association had alleged that electrical panels were lying open, wires were hanging out and fire-fighting equipment, including sprinklers and alarms, were non-functional. Irked that their complaints were being ignored by the developers, they had finally tagged Dhoni on Twitter with #AmrapaliMisuseDhoni last week.
Sharma had earlier said about the issue that minor fitment problems were being unnecessarily blown out of proportion. He had said that only a few families faced genuine problems, which would be addressed soon. He had also argued that the delay in the project was due to the restriction on construction activities by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) between November 2013 and August 2015.
