Amid spiritual reality, realty will take a huge hit

While the whole place will probably not be devoid of the spiritual belief, it is the construction and the real estate industry, virtually the back bone of daily life for thousands here and the migrant labour, which will be the other ‘big’ loss.

One of the many property owners developing the land into residential apartments here, Babu Reddy, said: “I have one project going on but there are several who have been building properties in anticipation of the devotees.” Almost 15 per cent of the devotees here are foreigners.

The anticipation that Babu speaks off will not materialize as Baba, the man devotees flocked Puttaparthi to see is no more. “The trust, which brings people here in droves, was commanded solely by him, his charity is seen as his extension and not really as a separate institution,” Narasimha, another resident of Puttaparthi explains.

 Speaking to Deccan Herald, Puttaparthi Builders Association Secretary Jothi Keshav said: “Properties worth at least Rs 50 crore are awaiting a take-off and another 300 apartments are being constructed around this area. We will have to wait for at least three years to recover the loss of anticipated demand,” adding that there is no certainity that this will happen.

He said that about 5,000-8,000 labourers come into Puttaparthi everyday and that even they will have a huge burden if the industry slips into a slump. Even the great global recession that the world witnessed in 2008 had not affected the industry here as much as Baba’s departure would.