Can you imagine a 1,200 sqft house being lifted three-and-a-half feet just with the help of jacks? This incredible feat has been achieved in Patna. Fed up with the recurring problem of waterlogging in his house every monsoon, a retired Bihar government official is giving his house a lift, literally.

A retired Bihar government official's two storeyed house in Patna is being lifted by three feet with the help of more than 100 jacks. A retired Bihar government official's two storeyed house in Patna is being lifted by three feet with the help of more than 100 jacks.

The house belonging to Ram Mohan Jha (66), a retired section officer of the state industries department, used to get flooded every monsoon. After reading in newspapers about a technology used in several areas in Bihar, he decided to give his house a "lift".

Jha's two-storied house, which had been constructed back in 1982 in the Patel Nagar locality in Patna, is being lifted by three feet with the help of more than 100 jacks, each of which can withstand weight of around 90 tonnes.

"My house gets flooded every year during the monsoon season due to the increased height of the parallel road. I got a ray of hope when I came to know that the level of concrete houses could also be raised," Jha said.

After studying the pros and cons of his decision, he got in touch with a firm called Vishwakarma and Co that had developed the expertise in this particular job. Jha is proud that his is the first house in Patna to use the technology. Jha's house, which has been lifted by 2 ft over the past 25 days, has become a centre of attraction in the city with many locals facing annual flooding of their houses coming to see the ongoing work and get details of the method and cost of the innovative technology.

"What is remarkable about the technology is that we are still staying in the house without any problem while the process is under way," Jha added. The process of lifting the house, however, is painstaking and requires utmost attention to carry out the work.

According to Chunni Yadav, associated with the firm which has been assigned the task, the house was lifted by 2 ft from the base of the ground in 25 days with the help of more than 100 jacks each of which could lift a weight of about 90 tonnes. Divulging the details of the work, he said that the top layer of the soil was first removed along the plinth before the beam and pillar giving support to the structure were cut. Subsequently, the jacks were fixed to lift the house uniformly.

After the house would be raised by three-and-a-half feet, the gap would be filled with bricks, boulders and concrete mixtures to give an altogether new foundation. The lifting process will cost Jha about Rs 3 lakh in all.