In India’s Ayodhya, the Ram temple means ‘land is costlier than gold’
Al JazeeraLand prices are skyrocketing with investors trying to cash in on the millions of people expected to visit the temple, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate on Monday. Several thousand farmers and landholders in the Ayodhya district and its neighbouring areas are doing the same, expecting exponential prices for their land which is in massive demand mainly to build commercial properties there. Vinay Kumar Verma, 33, a property dealer in Ayodhya, told Al Jazeera that his phone has not stopped ringing for the past six months, with people inquiring about the availability of land for building hotels. “The land here is even costlier by four to five times than that in the state capital, Lucknow.” The days leading up to the January 22 consecration of the temple have seen an explosion in demand for hotel rooms from visiting tourists and pilgrims – buttressing the business logic of real estate firms looking to build more hotels in Ayodhya. But the encroachments have increased in the past five years since the verdict of the Supreme Court that allowed the construction of the temple over the disputed land … mostly by outsiders trying to establish their business here.” Qadri said he had written to senior district officials, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Modi, complaining about the issue and seeking their intervention but no action has been taken yet.