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Land sales alter fortunes of Punjab’s border farmers
If lucre is the motivation behind dealing with land, then they have realised that selling the plot off brings bigger money that using it for their traditional occuption of agriculture. For, Punjab’s farmers living close to the state’s capital have for a while now maintained that farming on their land has not exactly been a financially tempting activity.
Not surprising, thus, that the state’s farmers sharing boundary with the union territory of Chandigarh have recently turned landlords. This, after having sold off their lands for as much as Rs 2 crore per acre.
The prime buyers are realtors, who have acquiring land near Chandigarh in villages, including Mullanpur Garibdas, Ferozepur and Salamatpur, to construct major residential projects. Then, comes the government, which need strips of such land for the widening of roads. The farmers are doubly happy with the trend, as they also notice that the land has become decreasingly productive over the years.
According to the Punjab State Farmer Commission, around 1.25 lakh hectares of agriculture land in Punjab have gone under real estate construction activity in more than 5 years. “This is the kind of boom taking place,” notes P S Rangi, a member of the body. The traditional peasant families, too, are happy. Gurpreet Singh, a 45-year-old farmer, says the productivity of his 12-acre agricultural land had dipped to the extent that he had to also venture into dairy farming. “Also, I had to myself sell the (horticulture) produce in Chandigarh’s terminal markets. It used to be really burdensome,” he recalls about life till a couple of years ago.
That was when Gurpreet decided to sell off his ancestral land in the village which is roughly 20 km away from Chandigarh. The money he thus got was channelled to purchase 35 acres of land near Morinda. The one-time farmer also booked four plots in an upcoming DLF residential project in Mullanpur.
Farmers selling land and booking plots in upcoming residential project has almost gained a pattern in Chandigarh’s areas bordering Punjab. Sukhbir Singh, 40, has also booked — a 100-square-yard plot — in the same DLF project. “That will be my new mailing address,” he says with a chuckle. Sukhbir, who had only 0.5 acres of land till recently, also owns seven acres of land in a village near Fategarh sahib.
Rajinder Singh , a sarpanch (panchayat head) from Badaungi village, reveals that marketing teams of upcoming residential projects keep approaching villagers in his locality. “It looks like a profitable deal for both parties,” he adds.
It is not as if all farmers are keen to purchase plots in private residential projects after selling off their ancestral land. In fact, most of them prefer purchasing plots in some other part where the prices are far lesser. “Zameen Jat da gehna hai (Land is an ornament for the farmer),” gushes Balwinder Singh, who by selling 5 acres of land in his village has purchased 16 acres of land in Ropar district.
Tarlochan Singh, who sold off 8 acres of land in his village, has purchased 22 acres of land near Morinda in Ropar district. He is now a property dealer helping his fellow farmers purchase land in hinterlands.
Gurpreet Singh who sold off 12 acres of land in his village now is owner of 30-35 acres of land in village near Morinda — called The City of Orchids. Along with such rise in living standards has a penchant for owing luxury vehicles. Quite a few villagers have purchased high-end cars and SUVs. Raj Naresh Singh who is dealer to many luxury brands around Chandigarh, says 10 to 15 per cent of the automobile buyers in the region on Thursday are farmers.
Crucially, German luxury car-maker Porsche, which opened its showroom in Chandigarh last year, now claims about receiving eight to ten queries every month from farmers.
Such prosperity has shown its flip side as well. There are one-time farmers who are of late battling lifestyle diseases. One among them, who has been doing farming till early last year, suffers from hypertension these days — and claims to be under a debt of Rs 70,000. His aged mother too complains of having the same disease. A physician in a local aurvedic dispensary maintains there has been 10-20 per cent rise in lifestyle diseases in the last few years.
Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/land-sales-alter-fortunespunjabs-border-farmers/464901/
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