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Indian Village Suffers as Auto Sector Lays off Thousands

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - Four years ago, an optimistic Gopal Singh built a
   four-story house and opened a shop with the money he earned from the 22
   rooms he rented to migrant workers in Kasan village in India's northern
   Haryana state. As the country's auto sector boomed, labor from poorer
   states had flooded his village that lies adjacent to a factory of the
   nation's biggest automobile manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki.

   Now there are no takers for his rooms. "In every building there are at
   least five or 10 rooms lying vacant," said Singh. "Earlier, rooms were
   always booked and tenants used to line up to find accommodation. Now
   there are empty rooms and no tenants."

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