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| Redrawing a State in India Drives |
| Redrawing a State in India Drives Land Prices to the Sky
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| INDIA
, 1-September-2014
10:6:40 AM |
| In this belt of villages near the fertile Krishna River delta, much is as it has been for generations: The cotton soil is as black, the mango trees as heavy with fruit, the tobacco fields as fragrant and deeply green as ever.
But there have been curious changes in recent months. An old temple has received an expensive renovation, complete with a new banquet hall, courtesy of community donors. Some plots once tilled by small farmers lie untended, nothing more than overgrown grazing fields for cattle. Locals say "For Sale" signs have been replaced by "No Sale" signs as farmers try to fend off a rush of buyers who seem to have appeared overnight.
As for who the buyers are, theories abound. At markets and at tea-side stalls, people rattle off the names of politicians who reportedly visit late at night to survey a property undetected. They wonder if the recently retired cricket hero Sachin Tendulkar really bought 100 acres in a nearby town, as the newspapers say.
At first glance, these mango groves in the middle of nowhere seem an unlikely spot for a speculation boom. But in June, after years of impassioned debate, India split Andhra Pradesh, a large state in southern India, in two, creating India's 29th state, Telangana.
The new state will keep the ancient city of Hyderabad as its capital, so what is now Andhra Pradesh will eventually need a new capital, and these tiny villages could end up on the outskirts of what might be a sprawling new city.
In India, the politically connected seem to have a knack for buying land at just the right moment. Privy to government decisions about zoning or development, they are often accused of acquiring land near a planned development or using clout to get land rezoned, ending up with a windfall.
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