Kochi: The government of Kerala on Sunday heaved a sigh of relief as the last two of the four multicomplex flats at Maradu near here were demolished in order to fulfil a directive of the Supreme Court. The government will now approach the apex court with an action taken report on the demolition of four multi-storeyed for violating the Coastal Regulation Zone rules.
The posh flats were built adjoining the backwaters in Maradu near here.
With the demolition, the crores invested by hundreds of the salaried class became a useless pile of dust and rubble. Nearly 345 flats were reduced to just a pile of dust. The owners of the flats got Rs 25 lakh as compensation even as the court has asked authorities to claim the remaining amount from the builders by confiscating their properties. Many of the owners are retired employees who invested their retirement benefits in these flats.
On Sunday, Jain Coral Cove and Golden Kayaloram were demolished in seconds using hi-tech implosion.
The demolition of 16-storeyed Golden Kayaloram at 2.30 pm was a bit tricky as just two meters away was an Anganwadi and 5 meters away was another multi-storeyed apartment.
On Saturday, 19-storeyed H2O Holy Faith H2O went down to its ‘knees’ and became part of history with just a heap of dust.
With this, the government’s ‘Mission Maradu’ was completed. Ahead are other flats and resorts across Kerala that have flouted the Coastal Regulation Zone rules.
On Sunday too, entire Kerala was glued to television sets for the event. Being a holiday, the crowd was huge.
The demolition was carried out by Mumbai-based Edifice Engineers and Chennai-based Vijay Steels.
The next challenge would be the removal of over 90,000 tonnes of rubble within 70 days. A local business house has won the contract to remove the rubble. The company has provided alternative dwelling units for the residents around the flats for three months as there would be a dust cloud in the coming days when the rubble is broken further and removed.
