Facing demolition of their houses as ordered by the Supreme Court for CRZ norms violations, owners of the around 350 apartments here on Thursday received support from both the ruling CPI-M and opposition Congress, with the leaders saying the issue required humanitarian consideration.
Former environment minister and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Leader of the Opposition in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala rallied behind the owners, who have been opposing the demolition of the apartments in Maradu here.
The apex court had last week pulled up the Kerala government for non-compliance of its order directing demolition of the five apartment complexes at Maradu and said the state was known for "not following" its directives.
Directing the government to comply with its order by September 20, it has said if a compliance report was not filed, the state chief secretary should appear before it on September 23.
Owners of the apartments have said they would not allow the demolition of their houses as they have no place to go if the apex court order was implemented.
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Jairam Ramesh alleged "differential treatment" had been meted out in the case of the apartment complexes here and referred to cases related to Adarsh housing complex and DLF.
"Supreme Court has ordered demolition of apartments in Kochi that violate Coastal Regulation Zone rules. Yet, in similar case of violation it imposed penalty on DLF & regularised. It had stayed the demolition of Adarsh housing complex in Mumbai. Why such differential treatment?" he tweeted.
Balakrishnan said this was an issue which required a humanitarian consideration as the residents will become homeless if the houses were demolished.
The government should take steps to rehabilitate the people, he told a press conference in Pala near Kottayam.
It was not the residents who violated the law. Action should be taken against those who had 'bent' the rules (for constructing the buildings in the ecologically sensitive areas), he added.
The CPI(M) leader, however, said there were limitations for the state government to intervene in the Supreme Court order.
Chennithala sought urgent intervention of the state and central governments on the issue.
Noting that the people who own the apartments were not the violators,the Congress leader said the lives of many of them would go out of track if the court order was implemented.
In a statement, he said the main culprits in the case were the builders and the authorities who had given sanction to construct the buildings in ecologically fragile zone.
If the court order was implemented, adequate compensation should be given to the owners of the apartments and they should be rehabiliated.
Meanwhile, the flat owners said they would petition President Ramnath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking their intervention.
Visiting one of the apartment complexes on Thursday, former judge of the Kerala High Court Kemal Pasha said it was not the flat owners who have violated the rules.
The owners have paid every tax to the state government before they secured possession of their flats.
He said the state government had the moral responsibility to provide all the necessary assistance to people affected by the court order.
Meanwhile, Maradu Municipal authorities, who have pasted pre-demolition notices on the apartments earlier this week, said they were getting good response from the firms for their tender seeking speedy demolition of complexes.
The state government had on Monday initiated steps to implement the Supreme Court order and given directions to the Maradu municipality to take immediate action to evacuate the residents and rehabilitate them in coordination with Ernakulam District Collector.
On May 8, the apex court had directed that these buildings be removed within a month as they were constructed in a notified CRZ, which was part of the waterbody in Kerala that was known to be hit by tides.
The court had rejected a plea filed by the residents against the demolition order and taken a strong exception to an order passed by a vacation bench during the summer break of the apex court, which had stayed the demolition of these buildings for six weeks.
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