Dilapidated Bldgs on Chakrata Road have residents worried

By PRABEER SIKDAR
DEHRADUN, 28 June 2009: If it is nightmarish to commute on the congested Chakrata Road from the Clock Tower, life is no better for the residents of a dozen dilapidated buildings there, some on their last legs.
“Sometimes, when the vehicles move at high speed, the floor starts shaking,” said Rajesh Chauhan, who lives with his widowed mother in a large extended family of 22 persons at 28, Chakrata Road, opposite RGM Plaza.
Their ramshackle building, which appears like a heritage site from a distance, is just 150 metres away from the Clock Tower, Doon’s landmark.
Made with lime plaster, the yet standing building is a proof of the existence of God. “We are lucky that the building is still intact,” said Parmod Devi, 45, whose husband, a taxi driver, died three years ago, leaving her to feed 10 mouths.
A mother of 10 children (9 daughters and a son), Parmod Devi, despite sitting on a gold mine (at the current market rate, their two-floor building with four rooms would be worth more than Rs 1 crore) lives the life of a pauper. Thirty metres away from her home is Prabhat Theatre.
“There are three families in this building,” added Devi, disclosing that her father-in-law’s father had constructed the building. “I started living in this building since 1975, post my marriage.”

Shockingly, there are about a dozen ramshackle buildings on the Chakrata Road, which are on the verge of collapse. Their existence is directly proportional to the intensity of the monsoon. “For us, more rains means less life for our buildings,” explained Chauhan, son of Devi, who, should land be given by government, would prefer to migrate to any alternative site, along with his mother and unmarried sisters.
“Let the government give alternative sites, we would relocate, provided they pay us the market value,” said Devi, whose poverty has forced the family to live without electricity. “The electricity department disconnected our line five months ago, after we failed to pay the charges.”
Despite her acute poverty, (she makes a living by packaging bulbs) Government babus, also denied her a white ration card. Her Yellow card bearing No 276427 makes her eligible to receive 5 litres of oil and 3 kg of sugar every month.
The condition of others living in such decaying buildings is also similar. “There are many poor tenants who live in there,” said Devi, while showing another building opposite to theirs, which is also on the verge of collapse.
Doonites already knows about the plight of residents of a nearby building that is owned by the LIC and bits of which keep collapsing, particularly during the rains. Come the monsoons, the buildings on Chakrata Road are a disaster waiting to happen.