In Punjab, a farmer rolls his dream away from NH
Three years of sweat, a lifetime of savings and a two-storey dream house that was just waiting for its final coat of paint — everything stood ready. Then came a notice that shook the ground beneath Punjab farmer Sukhpreet Singh’s feet. His newly-built kothi in Barnala district lay directly in the path of the Ludhiana-Bathinda highway being constructed under the Centre’s Bharatmala project. The message was blunt — The house will have to go.
For Sukhpreet, demolition was not an option. The INR 60-lakh, 2,500-square-feet house was not just brick and mortar - it was the shared dream of a family that had lived for decades in cramped spaces. Built between 2017 and 2020, the two-storey structure symbolised stability, dignity and a future they had waited years for. Ironically, the family had not even moved in; painting work was yet to begin when the storm arrived.The highway survey conducted in 2021 placed the kothi squarely on the project alignment. Officials offered compensation of around INR 60 lakh, covering both the house and a land parcel nearly double its size.
But Sukhpreet knew the amount was nowhere near enough to rebuild a similar house elsewhere. “People told me a new house could be built in INR 25-30 lakh,” he recalled, adding, “But I had already spent double that. This house was our biggest dream.”
For two years, he resisted. He refused to vacate, turned down demolition and lived in constant anxiety. Days were restless, nights sleepless — the fear of losing everything gnawed at him.
The choice before him was stark — break the dream or attempt the impossible. The impossible arrived unexpectedly, through a late-night scroll on Instagram. A reel showed a house being shifted intact, rather than broken down. On the other side of the proposed highway, Sukhpreet owned land. An idea sparked — risky, expensive, but hopeful. He contacted specialists who relocate heavy structures and soon roped in a contractor from Haryana’s Yamunanagar, trained in the delicate craft of moving buildings inch by inch.
Today, Sukhpreet’s kothi is quite literally on the move. Using machines, rollers and painstaking precision, the two-storey house is being shifted 350 feet forward - away from the highway’s path. The operation began in November 2025 and has already taken two months, with another three months to go. By April, he hopes the house will settle into its new location, intact and standing tall.
The cost? About INR 10.60 lakh - a fraction of rebuilding, but still a heavy burden for a farmer. “Even this is expensive,” Sukhpreet admitted, “but saving my home matters more.”
During the process, the family shifted into a single temporary room. Neighbours questioned the decision. Some mocked it, others warned of cracks and collapse. Contractor, who learned the technique in Yamunanagar, said that the job leaves no room for error. “One small mistake can damage the structure,” he said, adding that full compensation would be paid if cracks appear.
Sukhpreet’s determination echoed an earlier, remarkable episode from Punjab. In 2022, a farmer from Sangrur, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, chose to shift his INR 1.5-crore, two-storey house nearly 500 feet when it came in the way of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway. Built over two years, Sukhi’s dream home was moved on specially attached wheels and gears, rather than being razed. “It was my dream project,” he had said then. “I didn’t want to build another house.”
Together, the two stories underline a striking trend: for some farmers, homes are not just assets but deeply personal legacies - worth moving, inch by inch, to protect.
