Demolition drive against four Kochi illegal flats completed

Sending a strong message to violators of environmental norms, the Supreme Court ordered demolition drive against four illegal waterfront apartment complexes here was completed on Sunday with the last two high rises pulled down using controlled implosion method.

In perhaps the first of its kind drive in the country against illegal residential high risses, the four concrete colossuses housing nearly 350 flats were reduced to piles of rubble in seconds one after another over the last two days.

Ernakulam District Collector S Suhas and Kochi Police Commissioner Vijay Sakhare said the demolition drive was successful and said everything went as planned.

Explosives, weighing totally nearly 750 kgs, were used in a controlled manner to bring down the lakeside structures in Maradu, eight months after the apex court ordered their demolition for violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone norms.

The Kerala government stuck to its time line of 138 days given to the Supreme Court in September last year as the meticulously planned operation was successfully carried out in a precise manner amid tight security and after people in the neighbourhood were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was imposed in the evacuation zone of 200 metre radius from 8 am to 4 pm on both days to ensure there was no movement in the area.

The government, which made it clear that it will implement the court orders, had managed to evict the owners of the flat, who staged protests, saying they had invested their hard earned money in buying the flats. The Supreme Court had ordered payment of Rs 25 lakh as interim compensation.

On the eve of the demolitions, one of the owners had said: "It is injustice done by a state against its citizens. The government is responsible for this situation."