Desi replica wins kudos

Ranchi, July 27: Standing at 90ft at Hehal in Ranchi, the entrance to Ritambhara apartment, a five-storeyed building constructed by Rudrarpan Construction Private Limited, may well make it to the Limca Book of Records for being the highest fabricated entrance to a residential area.

Kumar Arpan, managing director of RCPL, admits that this Rs 18 lakh Eiffel Tower replica was deliberately so designed to create a record.

“I always wanted to do something extraordinary. I have a restaurant Padosan at Kathal More, where a customer can fish in the restaurant’s pond to eat different fish delicacies. I run a school, St Collin’s English School, at Itki Road. I am going to construct a building for the school which will be in the shape of a pencil,” said Arpan.

This project had been in his mind for quite some time but work on the tower started on March 6, 2005 and was completed in a year by 10 labourers and three fabrication experts.

“Parshuram Sharma and his two sons who work as fabricators in Dubai turned my dream into reality,” said Arpan. Of the total expenses, Rs 13 lakh were spent on procuring steel, he added.

“It has three floors, but stairs are only till the first,” said Arpan. Initially, it was planned to take the stairs up to the second floor, but was dropped because of the fear that the Ranchi Regional Development Authority (RRDA) or the airport may object.

“I have written to RRDA to tell me if the structure is objectionable. I will dismantle it and send it to Durg in Madhya Pradesh where there is no ban on such towers. I have communicated to RRDA that I have done this only to create a record,” said Arpan.

“It will cost around Rs one lakh to demolish the tower and to re-erect it in Durg,” he added. Ranchi airport OSD said Itki Road was far off and a tower there would hardly affect the airport now. No one from RRDA was available for comment.