Sunday, April 10, 2022

Who is Vishal Garg of Better.com, Better Mortgage? Father Chand, Mother, Brother Vikas, manhole covers from India, by Mary Cummins


Vishal Garg of Better Mortgage better.com was born in Rajasthan, India about 1978. I have the exact birth dates but I'm not posting them even though they're public. I'm only posting public information. Vishal Garg is a public figure. These are issues of public concern. He moved with his mother, father and brother to New York as a child. 

Vishal Garg's father is Chand Prakash Garg born about 1952 in India. Chand Garg is a mechanical engineer per his LinkedIn page. He attended the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, PGDM ( MBA ), Strategic Planning, PGDM ( MBA ) 1974 - 1976 and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, BE ( Hons ), Mechanical Engineering, BE ( Hons ), Mechanical Engineering, 1968 - 1973. 

Chand Garg owns and operates Global Business Inc out of his home in Forest Hills, New York. GBI is in the "construction business." Chand Garg works with R B AGARWALLA & CO. making, selling manhole covers. There have been many articles an even a documentary about Indian made manhole covers which are used widely in New York and other states in the US. There is a photo from 2003 of Chand proudly holding a design for a manhole cover. The rest of the article is basically about Chand and the company bragging about basically using super cheap almost slave labor with little to no safety or environmental regulations to make lots of money.

Chand Garg was quoted in the following 2003 article ("The Ironcast System," S Mitra Kalita, Newsday, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, Monday, January 20, 2003) about why the US buys manhole covers from India. It's because of cheap labor, cheap supplies, little to no safety/environmental regulations and profits.

"We pay these people $1 per day for eight hours," said B.N. Agarwal, senior partner of R.B. Agarwalla in Calcutta, which exports manhole covers. "Their cost in the U.S. is $24 per hour. The advantage of India is only labor." New York City is R.B. Agarwalla's largest contract, worth about $2 million annually. Most foundries bid through U.S.-based contractors, and the family-run Agarwalla's middleman works from his home in Forest Hills.

Chand Garg rises each day at 6 a.m. to catch his clients in India before they leave for the day. Folders stuffed with designs for manhole covers, valve boxes and water hydrants fill Garg's second-floor office. He says he has formed close relationships with the staff of the city's Department of Environmental Protection, which is in charge of the city's manhole covers. Like Garg, many DEP staffers have a background in engineering. And like Garg, many are Indian. The same can be said for the dozen or so middlemen like Garg who operate throughout the United States bidding on contracts and then placing orders with foundries in India.

"We know each other but we don't talk to each other," he said. "We are competing. Sometimes we lose the bids for $100 on a million-dollar contract."

Manhole cover costs vary by weight, and New York City's current specifications call for them to be 27 inches in diameter, the cover to weigh 195 pounds and the frame to weight 345 pounds. Garg said Indian foundries often charge 24 cents per pound, while their American counterparts charge 50 cents per pound."

The manhole covers are built in Howrah, India in foundries. These foundries were set up during the 1800's by the British colonialists during their occupation of India. There's very little safety regulations in the foundries. They emit huge quantities of smoke and pollutants. 

A New York Times article "New York Manhole Covers Forged Barefoot in India" exposed the dangers and harsh working conditions in the foundries. There is little to no safety equipment. Instead of machinery and forklifts the barefoot men lift and carry the heavy manhole covers. The working conditions were so shocking that they've since been investigated. There's a documentary film called "Cast in India (trailer)." Many of these workers are maimed or killed making manhole covers. 

This explains a lot about Vishal Garg who thinks his employees are lazy and never work hard enough for him. This is why he's always grinding contractors and business associates. His father clearly taught him that it's good to abuse and take advantage of  employees and business associates in the name of profits and money. That's clearly all Vishal Garg cares about. 

I had to find this information through newspapers.com. All mention of Chand Garg and the manhole covers was erased from the same articles on the internet. His name, name of his business are available on the internet. 

Chand Garg self identifies as Southeast Asian, Hindu, language Hindi. He lists his business category as "metal services" "wholesale." He's registered to vote in New York. He lives in a 2.5 story home in Forest Hills, New York. Home is 2,549-3,200 sf, 5 bed, 4 bath, two kitchens so maybe a guest house, estimate $1.6-1.8M and tax assessed at over $1,000,000 built 1910. He bought it for $472K in 1992 then listed it for sale for $2.5-$2.6M recently then removed the listing. Sounds over priced. Based on the photos he posted when he listed his house his parents appear to be religious Hindu. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/7743-Kew-Forest-Ln_Flushing_NY_11375_M47524-40979

Vishal's mother is Manju. His brother is Vikas C Garg born about 1980. Vikas is involved in abillionveg abillion.com. His main job seems to be venture funding for his own business. "I spent most of my career working in Wall Street, finance, trading and hedge funds. I even worked for the U.S. government for a few years and helped them manage money. I had this whole career separately outside of my social values. It was this career that brought me to Singapore six years ago." 

Vishal talking about his youth. "Yes. My mom, dad, brother and I moved to New York City when I was five, so I was a minority student in the public school system. I was fortunate to have my father, a math genius, coach me in the subject: he and I spent many summers on his office floor learning math from old Indian textbooks." 

It appears abillionveg now called just abillion wants to raise funds for their app which just hosts reviews of vegan products made by other people. He hooked up with a tech guy to create the business just like Vishal and Khan. Maybe he's copying his brother's business model of raising funds for a business then keeping as much money for himself. The abillionveg Facebook page is gone. I've been vegan forever. In the last 5-10 years so many people just use veganism to raise venture funds. They don't even intend for the company to be successful or even operational. 

Vishal is married to Sonia Alexander Palmieri Li who was born in Los Angeles. Her father was an Asian mathematician, statistician maybe from Hawaii who died in 2013. Her mother is Dr Deborah Anne Palmieri born in Massachusetts who specializes in Russian business. She's of Italian descent. 

In 2009 Vishal Garg married Sarita M James in New York. She was born about 1976. Her father is Dr Thekkumkattil Devasia James a medical doctor from India. Her mother is Dr Pushpom James also a medical doctor. Lots of education, degrees and intelligence in these families. Sadly making money at the expense of other people seems to be their goal. 




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