Ranchi: Several elderly residents, many of them retired government officials, are spending sleepless nights in Harmu with an urban development project threatening to render them homeless.
A survey team from Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company (Juidco) had visited the HI-Type area along Harmu Bypass a couple of days ago to gauge the space needed to facilitate widening and revamp of the Birsa Munda Rajpath.
"The team took measurements of houses - from H-201 to H-214 - and asked owners to be ready to sacrifice at least one-third of their homes for a smart road," a resident said.
Biras Tirkey (73), a former director of Geological Survey of India (GSI) and owner of H-201, said he was staying in this Jharkhand State Housing Board bungalow since 1983.
The state agency leased out the house, constructed on 2,260sqft area, for 90 years. Now, government surveyors say I have to sacrifice 825sqft on the front side. This is absurd. I never thought I would have to face such hassles in a planned colony after my retirement," Tirkey said.
Prerna Devi (70), a widow living in H-202 since 1990, echoed the retired GSI director.
"My husband, Ayodhya Prasad, was an HEC employee. After he retired, we moved here. Now, my husband is no more and this is my only home. My son and his family live here too. How can they demolish our home?" the elderly woman said, adding that there was more than two acres of vacant land opposite her house and the road was already 80ft wide. "Yet, they measured and marked my home for demolition."
A paramedic working with Dr Jitendra Singh (67), who retired from the medicine department of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences two years ago, said the doctor's house, H-214, wasn't being spared either.
"Doctor Sahib practises from home since he retired as a government doctor. How will he attend to his patients if the proposed road project robs him of space?" the member of his staff said, adding that at least 10 retired persons would be affected by the project.
Director (technical) of Juidco D.K. Singh could not be contacted. An engineer of the company, however, admitted that there was no way out.
"Birsa Munda Rajpath, covering 6km from Birsa Chowk to Raj Bhavan via Dibdih, Argora, Harmu, Garikhana and Kishoreganj, is being converted into a smart road with better public amenities. Survey work is on. Houses coming in the way of the project will have to be demolished. Several other houses in other areas will be demolished," the engineer, who did not want to be quoted, said.
The proposed Rs 465-crore smart road will be lined with trees and have separate tracks for cyclists. There will be new water pipelines, power transmission lines, phone cables and sewerage. There will also be parking room beside the road.
