Kochi: The authorities wanted to close the Maradu flat demolition chapter with a flawed report. However, the vigilant local people have thwarted the attempt, prompting the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to step in.
The southern bench of the NGT, in a recent order, has directed the State Pollution Control Board to assess the compensation to be charged from the Maradu municipality and the service providers responsible for the removal of the buildings' debris for non-compliance with the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The green court issued the directive following the State-Level Monitoring Committee on Solid Waste Management's finding that a considerable portion of the debris which fell into the Vembanad lake during the demolition of the Alfa Serene twin towers has not been removed from the water body yet.
Alfa Serene was one of the four apartment complexes in Ernakulam's Maradu municipality demolished by controlled implosion in January as per a Supreme Court verdict that found violation of coastal regulation zone rules in the construction of the buildings.
A portion of the Alfa Serene building was deliberately pushed into the backwaters to save a few houses close to the building during the demolition. It was supposed to be removed from the water by the companies who had acquired the contract to dispose of the debris.
The Maradu municipality had on June 18 submitted a report to the government stating that the debris had been fully removed from the demolition sites. The joint committee appointed to oversee the debris removal also verified this in a report dated July 24.
However, the SLMC chairman Justice (retired) A V Ramakrishna Pillai contradicted the claim, first based on a report filed by the State Pollution Control Board and then a personal visit to the site. Justice Pillai's action followed a Malayala Manorama report on the local fishermen's complaint about the failure to remove debris from the water body.
“The claim of the Maradu municipality as well as the Joint Committee is that the entire debris fallen into the backwaters near the demolition site of Alfa Serene tower-2 has been removed. This is factually incorrect. It is true that attempts have been made to remove the debris from the portion at a width of 15 metre from the bank towards the middle of the water body. What was seen moved is the debris which were seen over the water level. During my inspection scattered settlement of debris including reinforced beams beyond a distance of about 15 metres from the bank towards the middle of the water body could be detected. At some point, steel bars used for the reinforcement of the concrete are seen protruding from above the water level,” Justice Pillai wrote in his report.
Justice Pillai conducted the site inspection with the help of a local fisherman, Sugunanandan, who was one of the first to raise voice against the non-removal of the debris from the lake.
“We first noticed the problem a couple of months ago when the fishing net of a team from Udayamperoor tore as it got stuck in the debris under water. It was a heartbreaking sight as the net costs over Rs 10,000. If the debris remains under water, such incidents will happen again. It can even put fishermen's lives at risk,” Sugunanandan, 55, told Onmanorama.
He said the debris at a height of around 15 feet is lying under the water.
Inland fishermen from various parts of the district conduct fishing in the lake, according to Antony Kalarikkal, district president of Malsya Thozhilali Congress.
Blame on municipal secretary
The Pollution Control Board, in its latest report to the NGT, has put the blame on the municipal secretary for not ensuring that the debris was removed from the water fully.
“The secretary, Maradu municipality, is responsible as per the relevant provisions of the C&D Waste Rules, 2016 for arranging and managing the service providers for the safe removal of all the wastes due to demolition of flats from the sites,” chief environmental engineer M A Baiju wrote in his report.
Municipal secretary Muhammed Arif Khan did not respond to repeated calls from this correspondent.
The board has also told the NGT that it was initiating speedy action to obtain specific advice or guidelines from the Central Pollution Control Board on imposing environmental compensation from the municipality as well as the firms responsible for removing the debris. Kochi-based Prompt Enterprises was responsible for removing the concrete particles while Chennai-based Vijaya Steels was to remove the steel material.
