Hyderabad: Farmers who turned millionaires overnight face prospect of losing lakhs

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Several farmers who sold their land in the Amaravati Capital Region in 2013-14 were left holding a lot of cash in their bank lockers. They are now hunting for friends and relatives who can accommodate deposits up to Rs 2.5 lakh in their bank accounts without attracting a penalty.

Bank officials at Vijayawada, Mangalagiri, Thullur and Guntur said that anxious farmers were doing the rounds at banks and asking officers how to deposit money without attracting penalty.

Between October 2013 and March 2015, many farmers in the Amaravati Capital Region sold their lands amid reports that the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh would be established there, and land rates went through the roof. Land which earlier cost Rs 40 lakh per acre was sold at Rs 1 crore or more. At least 6,500 acres were sold.

However, as the state government fixed the registration value of land between Rs 8 and 16 lakh, about 95 per cent of the money was paid in cash. While most of the farmers parked the money by purchasing cultivable land elsewhere, building houses or buying luxury cars, some farmers deposited them in lockers or kept the cash in safes at home.

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