Everything went as planned. Two of the four illegally-constructed flat complexes at Maradu in Kerala's Ernakulam district came crashing down within seconds as hundreds of people watched the culmination of an unprecedented legal action in the state. Holy Faith H20, Alfa Serene buildings turned into heaps of debris seconds after the controlled blasts were triggered.
The demolition following a Supreme Court order in May 2019 was a tight slap on the face of real estate mafia rampantly constructing buildings violating environment laws.
Holy Faith H2O at Kundannoor was demolished at 11:19 am and Alfa Serene twin towers demolition followed in the next few minutes. Three warning sirens were sounded before the demolition.
It was a moment of relief for Mumbai-based Edifice Engineers and Chennai-based Vijaya Steels, the companies which carried out the demolition amid fears and concerns of people living near the structures.
Priests from Kalady performed a puja in front of H2O at the behest of Edifice engineers a few hours before the blasts.
The flat complex was razed as per a May 8, 2019 Supreme Court order that found the constructions were in violation of coastal regulation zone rules. The complexes housing 356 flats were brought down using the implosion method.
Hundreds of people had gathered to watch the demolition. They stood outside an exclusion zone of 200 metre radius set by the authorities. Section 144 was in place in the area from 8 am on Saturday.
The Supreme Court had ordered the demolition within 138 days, a time line given by the Kerala government.
Though the residents staged protests for several days refusing to vacate, later they relented. The court had ordered an interim compensation of Rs 25 lakh each to the owners of the flats.
The other two apartment complexes will be razed on Sunday.
Section 144 in exclusion zone
Section 144 of CrPC was imposed on land,water and air in the exclusion zone of all the apartment complexes to be demolished here on Saturday and Sunday, police said on Friday.
National Highway and Kundanoor-Thevara road are among the major roads which fall in the exclusion zone.
Section 144 will continue to be imposed on land, on water and in air between 8 am and 4 pm in the areas surrounding two flats to be demolished on Sunday.
Inspector General of Police Vijay Sakhare said water would be manned by boats of coastal police, land by 500 policemen plus 300 striker parties for crowd control and traffic control and no drones can fly.
Demolition timeline
The 19-floor H2O Holyfaith apartment complex having 90 flats and the Alfa Serene complex with 73 flats in its 17 and 12 floors twin towers were demolished on Saturday.
While the 17-floor Jain Coral Cove apartment complex with 122 flats would be razed at 11 am on January 12, the Golden Kayaloram with 40 flats and 17 floors would be demolished at 2 pm, authorities said.
