A view of the Bethel Apartment on Club Road in Ranchi. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Dec. 12: The state capital is witnessing a new trend of apartments meant exclusively for tribals, built on tribal land and developed by tribal builders.

Many such apartment blocks have already come up around Club Road, Dangra Toli, Samlong, Lowadih, Bahu Bazaar, Kokar and even Burdwan Compound.

Earlier, tribals were averse to selling land. In any case, they were hamstrung by tenancy acts which prohibited sale to non-tribals without express permission of the deputy commissioner.

At least some tribals appear to have circumvented the restrictions by selling land to tribal cooperatives and striking deals with tribal builders.

Anjan Khalkho, a newcomer to the business of building promotion, sees it as a positive trend. Not only are more tribal families settling down in urban areas, he says, but some of the tribal land-owners have learnt the virtue of creating wealth by allowing their plots to promote real estate.

More firms promoted by tribals are also coming up. Salom Construction, for example, has struck a deal with one Raimundi Kachchap of Dangra Toli, where Kachchap’s six-cottah plot has been used to build an apartment with eight flats, meant exclusively for tribal households.

Individual tribal families would have paid a lot less for the land if they were to buy it for building an independent house. But by coming together, eight families would pay the tribal landowner eight-times the price.

This is also viewed as a positive trend because the entrepreneurial spirit of the tribals is coming to the fore.

In some cases, however, the developers appear to be non-tribals but the flats are registered in the names of tribals. They can be transferred only to tribals as well.

Tribal builders justify the practice by pointing out that apartments on tribal land, registered sometimes in fake tribal names, enable buyers to pay Rs 700 per sq ft less than the prevailing market price of flats, which is stated to range from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per sq ft.

Non-tribals would not have been able to buy the flats legally but occupy the flats nevertheless, claiming themselves to be the tenants of tribal landlords, who live outside.

In some cases, the land remains in the name of tribal landowners, who are also given a flat or two depending upon the size of the plot. But the flats are registered in the name of others.

The trend has opened up new business avenues for already established building contractors of tribal background like Sudesh Tirkey (of Sidhhant construction), Anjan Khalkho (of Salom construction), Christopher Baa (of Baa construction), Manju Kerketta etc. More tribal youths are also getting into the business.

The apartment blocks, where flats have already been handed over to buyers include Swatantra enclave and Samarth enclave in Samlong area and Bethel enclave on Club Road.

Projects in the pipeline include Jireh Enclave to be developed by Khalkho and Koyal enclave by Kerketta.