Omprakash, 40, of Rampura village now works as the assistant of a sub-contractor, building flats on the land in sector 82 that includes five acres that were once his.
"I had an emotional attachment with my land, but I sold it because there was a strong rumour that the government would acquire it," Omprakash said.
"Many of the semi-illiterate farmers and their families, in the absence of proper guidance and experience, got into the habit of overspending without generating proper sources of regular income," Anurag Bakshi, a former Indian Revenue service (IRS) officer, told IANS.
"They insisted on buying costly cars and building a bigger house than their neighbours'. There would be competitions in hosting lunches to which hundreds of villages were invited. They spent blindly on their marriage ceremonies," Bakshi added.
And one day, the money just ran out, leaving them high and dry.
