Some would say that the script of Arjun Kapoor-starrer Sardar ka Grandson came to life when earlier this month, a farmer in Punjab began moving his house by 500 feet, a little each day, using wheels. Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi’s decision to move his dream home built as recently as 2019 at the cost of Rs 1.5 crore in Roshanwala village of Sangrur, Punjab, left everyone marvelling and asking, “How!” Tourists are also believed to have taken a detour to see the marvel at work.

Balwan Sisodia of Yamuna Nagar tells mid-day matter of factly, that the lifting-and-shifting industry has existed since the 1990s. “It was 30 years ago that the first structure was lifted in India. And a decade or so after, a temple was moved. Both were done by late Mamchand Chouhan of Yamuna Nagar in Haryana,” Sisodia, 38, says. He entered the business of house lifting, moving and tilting in 2004. Ever since, he claims he has lifted over 500 buildings and moved a handful. Like him, most contractors involved in this business hail from Haryana. Yamuna Nagar, they say, is the birthplace of the technology.