House raised by 4-feet in city

Aurangabad, June 1:

In a bizarre incident, a bungalow built upon a plot admeasuring 2000 square feet, has been lifted to a height of 2.5 feet height, in ‘Satkarmnagar’ on Beed Bypass, recently.

The bungalow ‘Savali’ is of Sanjay Gadap and Anand Kulkarni. They have hired a house-lifting agency from Haryana, which has deployed 18 labourers from Bihar and 250 jacks for the task. The total task including civil works is of 40 days. A duration of 30 days has been completed on Tuesday and 10 days of work is remaining.

The bungalow will be raised four feet from the basement level. The task of lifting the house by 2.5 feet was completed in just eight hours.

It so happened that the height of the bungalow got lowered after the new road was built opposite the house. Hence a slope got formed. Accordingly, the family members staying in the house were forced to face severe inconvenience and health threats as the rainwater and sewage water overflowing from the nearby septic tanks were accumulating in their house. They were worried as the budget of lakhs of rupees was required to demolish the old house and reconstruct it. Hence they opted for house lifting and signed the agreement with a Haryana-based building lifting agency. The agency has lifted the house to a height of 2.5 feet and the remaining job of lifting the house by 1.5 feet more will be done on Thursday.

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At the outset, the ground floor flooring of the bungalow is removed and a square shape tank is dug by 2-feet deep below the level of the original foundation beam. The soil is removed and then an alternate cement beam is constructed and the jacks are placed upon it on gaps. The wooden logs are rested upon jacks to extend support to the original foundation beam. Later on, the original foundation beam along with walls is lifted by applying uniform speed on every corner of the house by jacks. The walls are safe and do not get damaged. Later on, the concrete pillars are built between the gaps of two jacks and then the jacks are removed. Accordingly, the whole house gets to rest on the new foundation beam and concrete pillars.

No help from MLA, corporator

“The occupants are staying here for the last 11 years. There is no drainage pipeline in the locality, except for the septic tanks. If it gets filled with rainwater, then the tanks get overflow and waste gets collected in the bungalow due to its formation on a slope. The spreading of raw smell also poses a health threat.

The families are facing inconvenience for the last three years. They spoke to several corporators, MLAs and AMC officers, but none of them could resolve our issue. At last, we got an option of house lifting,” said the owner Nirmala Gadap.

Another owner Angha Kulkarni said, “ We consulted many experts and came to know that it would need Rs 20 lakh or more to reconstruct the house by demolishing the old one. The task is now done in less than Rs 5 lakh. Earlier, we were afraid that the house will fall or the walls will get damaged as the new foundation (basement) was being dug from inside of the bungalow. Of the 40 days, one month has passed and all the walls are intact. Now our bungalow has become a topic of discussion in the region.”