Kochi: Two high-rise apartment complexes in Kerala's Maradu municipality were demolished on Saturday to implement a Supreme Court order that has the potential to rewrite the history of environmental protection laws in the country.
Holy Faith H2O and Alfa Serene twin towers – two of the four waterfront structures ordered to be demolished for violating Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms – were razed through controlled implosion.
Two other apartment complexes – Golden Kayaloram and Jain Coral Cove – would be demolished on Sunday.
The Supreme Court had on May 8, 2019, ordered to raze the structures built in violation of the CRZ norms.
Holy Faith H20 was the first of the apartment complexes to be demolished at 11.18 am.
The twin towers of Alfa Serene apartment were demolished minutes later.
As thousands of people watched the demolition, both the structures came crashing down in seconds and a massive cloud of dust engulfed the area.
The people, from various parts of the state, gathered outside the 200-metre exclusion zone till the blast buttons were pressed and the buildings imploded to a heap of debris.
The demolition was delayed by a 15 minutes due to a delay in implementing the prohibitory orders in the area, officials said.
Evacuation of people residing around the two illegal apartment complexes was completed by 9 am.
The prohibitory orders declared by the Ernakulam District Collector came into force at 8 am in the evacuation zone of the two residential complexes.
The District administration, led by collector S Suhas, was visibly elated.
Authorities claimed the demolition process was completed in a near-perfect manner.
“The demolition has been done wonderfully,” the district collector told reporters after inspecting the site of Alfa Serene flats. Revealing that some debris of Alfa 2 building had fallen into the nearby lake, he said it was done deliberately to avoid damage to the houses in the neighbourhood.
The collector also confirmed that there is no damage to the Thevara-Kundannoor bridge close to Holy Faith H2O.
Kochi commissioner IG Vijay Sakhare, who accompanied the collector, said, “We could execute the plans almost perfectly. There's no harm to humans or animals. There aren't any perceptible damage to houses too,” he said.
He thanked the people for cooperating with the authorities for the smooth implementation of the demolition plan. Sub collector Snehil Kumar Singh, who is in charge of the demolition exercise, was also part of the team.
Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) deputy chief controller Venugopal said there are no damage to the bridge or the nearby houses as per preliminary assessment.
Tripunithura MLA M Swaraj and Maradu municipality chairperson T H Nadeera also visited the houses near Alfa Serene towers after the blast. They also said there was no damage to the houses as people feared.
The demolition of Holy Faith H2O was done by Mumbai-based Edifice Engineers in association with South Africa's Jet Demolishers.
Earlier in the day, Edifice engineers conducted a puja in front of the H2O flat. Asked about the preparedness, Edifice's partner Utkarsh Mehta exuded confidence in conducting the controlled implosions without any hiccups.
Alfa Serene was brought down by Chennai-based Vijaya Steels. The company had faced severe criticism from local residents for what they alleged inexperience in demolition works and for following alleged unscientific methods.
The people residing near Alfa Serene towers had been highly worried over the fate of their houses as cracks were spotted on the walls during the demolition of the walls of the buildings. They reached their homes after the demolition and were a relieved lot to see that the buildings were intact.
A house near H2O suffered a minor damage after a tree fell over it in the impact of the implosion.
The debris of the H2O flat has not gone beyond the compound wall of the building.
Many nearby houses have been swarmed by plumes of dust and it would take days to clean them fully.
Authorities estimate a time span of more than two months to clear the debris.
Nineteen-storey H2O had 91 apartments and 212.4 kg of explosives were used to demolish the building. Alfa Serene twin towers with 16 floors each had 80 apartments. It was imploded using 343 kg of explosives.
The state government chalked out a plan to raze the buildings despite stiff opposition from the flat owners, supported by the political spectrum, after the apex court rapped it for not complying with its orders.