KUMARHATTI: The real estate boom was again on dip in Baddi belt. Fresh investment was all time low since the announcement of industrial package in 2003 in past six months the things were seemed to be pessimistic after the withdrawal of excise exemptions on non-manufacturing units by central government.
Though industrial fraternity did not see much weightage behind withdrawal of exemption due to negligible presence of non-manufacturing units, the industrial boom was expected to affect negatively due to the decision taken mainly to please the neighbouring states like Punjab and Haryana. In fact both these states were lobbying hard to annul the entire package to Himachal while dubbing it as a biased yardstick to favour some particular state.
The land prices have remained constant from long time with no buyers in picture. Those were days when maximum prices for per bigha of government and private land were recorded Rs. 3.31 cr and 1.19 cr respectively following announcement of package.
At that time the land prices had gone skyrocketed. The most of prime land was purchased by realtors. The some pieces of land purchased from local farmers were later sold to industrial units on three times of the prices of what were actually paid to farmers by realtors. The phenomenon of this big gain had attracted some local players who set up their shops in business. The land in Baddi area was sold like hot cakes between the years 2003 to 2005.
The real estate business slipped down in 2006, amidst romours over cancellation of package. However an extension of industrial package till 2010 in the mid of 2006 came as handy for real estate business that witnessed fresh lease of life. The land prices that were stagnat in 2006 again started to witness hike. There was a price hike ranging between Rs. 5 lakh –Rs. 10 lakh on per bigha of prime location of land during that time. Meanwhile the boom had never touched that height that it achieved after the 2003.
Now in present situation the land was available in nearby villages like Mandhala, Kalu Janda, Boraawalan, Sattiwala and Jharmajri. Besides the slump in industrial activities the land in this area has failed to fetch good prices for want of the approachable roads. It was high time for state government to link these areas with roads to meet the land availability deficit in area and making the real estate business alive to some extent, feel property dealer of belt.
