Unfavoured for years due to the dispute, areas in and around the proposed Ram Mandir have now multiplied in value; experts caution that haphazard development to keep up with demand could lead to serious infrastructure issues in the long run
Ayodhya: Property dealer Mohammad Irfan, 60, is a busy man these days. He has been dealing with more than 20 clients per day who are looking for land in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh (UP). Irfan, who goes by the moniker ‘Nanhe’, tells his clients that not a single Ayodhya resident could have predicted that property rates would shoot up this much in the town.
“If you had come to me earlier, I could have helped you get this plot worth Rs 40 lakh for less than Rs 10 lakh,” Nanhe tells his client.
On November 9, the Supreme Court gave a long-pending verdict over disputed land in Ayodhya, which cleared the construction of a Hindu temple to deity Ram; an alternative five acre plot will be earmarked to build a mosque, as the Sunni Waqf Board contested that this was the site of the Babri Masjid, demolished by Hindu extremists in 1992.
Since the verdict, land prices here have shot up, with an expectation of tourism and business opportunities in Ayodhya to rise. Along with the Ram temple, many ancillary industries are likely to come up.
“The rates have increased up to six folds after the Supreme Court passed its verdict,” Nanhe told Forbes India. “Many families from both Hindu and Muslim faiths had moved out of Ayodhya over the years, selling their homes at throwaway prices. Now, the rates have multiplied.”
Anil Kumar, 31, a resident of Kanpur, owns ancestral property in Rudauli, 40 kilometres away from the district headquarters of Ayodhya. “I was struggling to find customers before the Ayodhya verdict, even had to invest in newspaper advertisements, but a lot of people are approaching me for the same property now,” he says. “Earlier, I would get offers for Rs 1.5 crore, when the property was worth at least Rs 2 crore; but that has changed now.”