Banawali (Mansa), June 16
A forsaken land dotted with sand dunes just a few months ago, this village now does not offer even a single inch of land for sale as the upcoming mega thermal power project here has suddenly transformed the economy of the area.
Work on the 1980 MWs thermal project being set up by a private company has yet to be accelerated, but construction activity across the road is in full swing where residents of nearby villages who have acquired land on short-term lease are building a number of shops and residential units for the work force that would be employed by the company.
Residents of the neighbouring villages would not venture here a few months ago, but now they are vying to acquire land in this village where the financial prospects are bright.
Everyone here seems to be focusing the large work force that would be deployed once work on the project shifts in top gear.
Retired soldier Sukhwinder Singh of the nearby Behaniwal village is busy building two shops and a couple of tenements for renting out to workers of the company. He has acquired a piece of one kanal of land on the roadside on annual lease of Rs.18,000 for this purpose.
He hopes that each shop would fetch him a monthly rent of at least Rs 2,500, while he might earn about Rs 3,000 per month out of each of the ten residential rooms in the backyard.
He recalls that from his childhood he saw the entire tract of land of the village lying barren and after rains shepherds used to bring their sheep and goats for grazing on the shrubs.
Sukhwinder Singh says that earlier there was no buyer of land here, but now you won't trace even a single seller.
Resham Singh, who is running a roadside tea stall, says that he has managed to acquire one small under-construction shop on annual rent of Rs 45,000. He would shift in the shop once its construction is complete. His daily earning out of tea and pakoras is around Rs 1,000.
He too has come here from a village near Talwandi Sabo and says that no one would earlier pay a lease of even Rs 5,000 for an acre of land here for agriculture, but now that much of land was not available even on annual rent of Rs 3 lakhs.
Shaminder Singh of the Sandoha village in Bathinda district a month ago started grocery business in a shop that he has acquired on annual rent of Rs 10,000 and his daily sale goes beyond Rs 1,000.
Rows of shops and dwelling units are coming up in the vicinity of the project site and the owners are expecting high rentals. A liquor vend has sprung up with stock of country liquor and IMFL and also offers chilled beer. The owner was reluctant to divulge the volume of his daily sales.
Ranjit Singh, who runs a dhaba, says that he has taken the shop on a monthly rent of Rs 3,000. He says that earlier there was not a single shop even at the bus stop on the highway that always remained deserted, but now there was lot of hustle and bustle as more than 100 shops were being built there.
A forsaken land dotted with sand dunes just a few months ago, this village now does not offer even a single inch of land for sale as the upcoming mega thermal power project here has suddenly transformed the economy of the area.
Work on the 1980 MWs thermal project being set up by a private company has yet to be accelerated, but construction activity across the road is in full swing where residents of nearby villages who have acquired land on short-term lease are building a number of shops and residential units for the work force that would be employed by the company.
Residents of the neighbouring villages would not venture here a few months ago, but now they are vying to acquire land in this village where the financial prospects are bright.
Everyone here seems to be focusing the large work force that would be deployed once work on the project shifts in top gear.
Retired soldier Sukhwinder Singh of the nearby Behaniwal village is busy building two shops and a couple of tenements for renting out to workers of the company. He has acquired a piece of one kanal of land on the roadside on annual lease of Rs.18,000 for this purpose.
He hopes that each shop would fetch him a monthly rent of at least Rs 2,500, while he might earn about Rs 3,000 per month out of each of the ten residential rooms in the backyard.
He recalls that from his childhood he saw the entire tract of land of the village lying barren and after rains shepherds used to bring their sheep and goats for grazing on the shrubs.
Sukhwinder Singh says that earlier there was no buyer of land here, but now you won't trace even a single seller.
Resham Singh, who is running a roadside tea stall, says that he has managed to acquire one small under-construction shop on annual rent of Rs 45,000. He would shift in the shop once its construction is complete. His daily earning out of tea and pakoras is around Rs 1,000.
He too has come here from a village near Talwandi Sabo and says that no one would earlier pay a lease of even Rs 5,000 for an acre of land here for agriculture, but now that much of land was not available even on annual rent of Rs 3 lakhs.
Shaminder Singh of the Sandoha village in Bathinda district a month ago started grocery business in a shop that he has acquired on annual rent of Rs 10,000 and his daily sale goes beyond Rs 1,000.
Rows of shops and dwelling units are coming up in the vicinity of the project site and the owners are expecting high rentals. A liquor vend has sprung up with stock of country liquor and IMFL and also offers chilled beer. The owner was reluctant to divulge the volume of his daily sales.
Ranjit Singh, who runs a dhaba, says that he has taken the shop on a monthly rent of Rs 3,000. He says that earlier there was not a single shop even at the bus stop on the highway that always remained deserted, but now there was lot of hustle and bustle as more than 100 shops were being built there.
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