The simmering discontent between the Adivasi and Lambada communities in the Agency areas of Adilabad and Kumram Bheem-Asifabad districts has had an unexpected fall out — a boom in real estate in Adilabad town. Emerging as a safer investment option than interior areas of the two districts, the town has seen a jump in non-tribal businessmen and Lambada government employees buying housing plots and houses.
Sale of housing plots has increased from just five or 10 two months ago to 30 to 40 at present. Construction of new houses has also taken off in a big way on the outskirts of the town in the last one month.
“Some 300 housing plots have been sold in the periphery of Adilabad since November last year,” said Ramesh Sharma, a leading realtor in town.
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Construction boom
“The purchasers are mainly Lambada government employees, most of them employee couples and non-tribal businessmen,” he revealed.
Construction of some 400 houses has also begun in survey numbers 27, 28, 29, 31 and 32 behind Ramnagar colony. “In tune with slump in realty everywhere, Adilabad too saw a drastic drop in land and housing transactions about four years back. The reorganisation of districts in 2016 also impacted badly and transactions came almost to a standstill,” Mr. Sharma pointed out.
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The turnover of money in the real estate business through sale of plots, according to independent estimates, is about ₹2.5 to ₹3 crore per day at present. Though this is still less than the business transacted in 2012, the jump has injected life into the realty.
Reminiscent of pre-1981
Most of the investors belong to Jainoor, Narnoor, Utnoor, Indervelli and Ichoda where the law and order situation has deteriorated of late.
“We fear that a movement would also start for expelling non-tribals from Agency areas,” observed a non-tribal businessman referring to the Adivasi demand for removal of Lambadas from the list of STs.
Ironically, many of these non-tribal traders and businessmen had made their fortunes through dealings with the poor tribal villages, often using illegal means to exploit the remote communities.
Their investment in Adilabad is second coming of sorts, the first one being during the days of unrest which ended in the infamous Indervelli massacre of 1981, when 62 Gonds were killed in police firing for protesting exploitation.
As earlier, the non-tribals are once again accused of encroaching upon Adivasi lands in the Agency areas besides other forms of exploitation. In recent months, some of them have been issued notices with questioning the legality of the ownership of their lands given the restrictions in force in the Agency areas.