Moving home, literally, to keep his wife’s memory alive: Jammu man is talk of town

The businessman said the building is not just made of bricks, concrete, and iron, but carries the memories of his late wife Ravinder Kaur who died during the second wave of Covid-19 on May 9, 2021.

An HSBL employee said they started the work two months ago by first digging deep trenches around the house to reach its foundation. (Express Photo)

“Right from its architecture to interiors, my wife had put in a lot of effort in designing every minute detail,” he said, recalling that Kaur used to search for items on YouTube and then get in touch with the suppliers.

“Both of us had put in a lot of sweat and blood in getting our dream house completed over a period of four years,” Jagmohan Singh said, adding that they had spent nearly Rs 1 crore by the time the house was completed in 2017.

Ravinder Kaur was working as an assistant professor at Jammu’s Cluster University at the time of her death. She had also almost completed her research work and was about to submit her thesis when she got infected by the virus, Jagmohan Singh recalled. The couple got married in 2003.

Jagmohan Singh had barely come to terms with the death of his wife when he received the information that his house had to be dismantled owing to the road-widening project between Satwari Chowk and the fourth bridge on River Tawi. The road forms part of the Jammu-Rajouri-Poonch National Highway 144A that joins NH-44 at Kunjwani.

“As I could not save my wife, I decided to at least save her memories which she had left in the form of the house,’’ Jagmohan Singh said, adding that he started surfing the internet looking for ways to move the building away from the road.

Although the house-shifting technology has already been used elsewhere in the country, it is the first such case in the Union Territory.

An HSBL employee said they started the work two months ago by first digging deep trenches around the house to reach its foundation. Thereafter, they laid channels, inserted steel beams into the openings, and placed hydraulic jacks beneath them to lift the building by 3 ft.

Using lift and move technologies, the workers move the house 2-3 ft every day. They have so far moved the structure 15 ft from the existing road.

A worker said it would take them nearly two more months to move the palatial building to its new location.