By Matthew Monks
“They're dismantling the building. I have no idea why,” Parmar said, as workers scoured his Van Dam Street station in Long Island City and dumped car parts and furniture into a large, steel trash bin. “They've got 60 people demolishing everything.”A Queens civil court judge ruled that Parmar's family was in default on their leases with Getty LukOil on July 28, nearly a year after the Indian natives stopped paying rent on the properties. Parmar claimed that after LukOil acquired Getty Petroleum Marketing in 2001, the Russian gas giant began treating him “like a slave” by jacking his rent and slashing his commission – a charge a company spokesman firmly rejected.In protest of what Parmar said were unfair business tactics, he stopped paying rent in October on the two stations. LukOil stopped delivering his gas and filed eviction petitions. Parmar began ordering fuel from a small, local provider in May and made headlines selling it for as low as $1.86 a gallon while prices throughout the city soared above $2. A natural media spin meister, Parmar portrayed his struggle as a David vs. Goliath battle, defining his opposition as an arm for the Russian government that used “mob-like” tactics to hound his family. He said the company hired private investigators to tail him and described how his car window was mysteriously smashed in the night.Parmar, who emigrated from India 25 years ago and lives in New Hyde Park with his wife and three children, said owning a business was his American dream – one that Getty LukOil turned into a nightmare.He carried on the theatrics Monday, hours after city marshals showed up to evict him at 7:30 a.m. tailed by LukOil work crews, who spent the day cleaning out the two properties and conducting tests on the fuel equipment.As workers tore down the garage fixture and ripped cigarette posters from the walls outside the Van Dam Street station, Parmar and his wife, Sutinder, mugged for the press holding a poster that read “Getty/LukOil run by Russian mob in U.S.A. supported by President Bush & Puttin (sic).”Dressed in a stars-and-stripes dress shirt, Parmar said marshals arrived earlier than promised at his College Point Boulevard station, keeping him from giving away to local children $300 worth of Snickers bars, Milky Ways and Three Musketeers. “They threw them in the garbage,” Parmar said. “That's how miserable this company is.”He said the evictions cost him his $125,000 security deposit as well as $15,000 in food, equipment and gas. Parmar stopped delivering fuel on Monday, knowing the end was coming soon.”I knew but I didn't know it was going to come so ugly and so fast,” Parmar said, later adding, “I don't have a job. My wife don't have a job. My son don't have a job. … I have no idea where my future's gonna be.””American justice stinks,” added Sutinder.But not if you ask Getty LukOil, whose spokesman Joseph Shwirtz said Queens Civil Court Judge James Golia's ruling in favor of the company reaffirmed its faith in the justice system. The judge found Parmar in default of $240,000 in back rent for the stations at 49-25 Van Dam St., which he has leased for 15 years, and 26-27 College Point Blvd., which he took over in 1999.”It's a situation where we had a business dispute with the tenant, Mr. Parmar. He hadn't paid his rent for months,” Shwirtz said. “We're pleased with the court's decision and we're looking forward to putting this matter behind us.”They never unjustly raised Parmar's rent or cut his commissions, he said, noting that the businessman had agreed to the terms of his most recent lease, which included built-in rent increases.”To make these kinds of allegations is simply false,” the spokesman said.Parmar was a squatter who “simply for whatever reason stopped paying his rent on these sites,” Shwirtz said. The former franchisee was blessed with timing and panache, he continued, galvanizing the media while gas prices skyrocketed around the country.”From our perspective, Mr. Parmar was essentially utilizing the media to air his grievances publicly and trying to get the media to fight his fight for him,” Shwirtz said.He added that the two stations would be swiftly up and running with new owners. Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
