KOCHI: Amid awe, tension and tears, the two remaining high-rises in Maradu — Jains Coral Cove and Golden Kayaloram — were razed on Sunday as the state completed the demolition of the five complexes in the municipality following a Supreme Court order for violating CRZ norms.
The two 16-storey high-rises — Coral Cove (122 flats) and Golden Kayaloram (40 flats) — were razed at 11.01am and 2.28pm, respectively. Holy Faith H2O and Alfa Serene’s twin towers were brought down on Saturday.
The apex court had directed the state to demolish the five complexes overlooking the Vembanad Lake in a landmark order on May 8 last year.
After dilly-dallying initially and then taking extra time to prepare, the state government has completed the demolition, without causing any major damage to the properties in the neighbourhood. Now the task on its hand is to see off the huge heaps of debris, again without causing much harm to the environment.
“Other than the delay caused in order to ensure pitch-perfect fall of Golden Kayaloram by securing an anganwadi building in the compound, the entire demolition process went as scheduled,” said Fort Kochi Sub-Collector Snehil Kumar Singh, who is in charge of the demolition.
“It was possible due to the collective effort of the technical committee members, different departments and contracting firms. It’s immensely satisfying to say the entire execution rose to public expectation.”
R Venugopal, Deputy Chief of Explosives, Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, echoed his view.“Without causing any mishap or damage to the environment, we’ve successfully executed the demolition. Active participation of every official and cooperation of the public were key to it,” he said.
City Police Commissioner Vijay Sakhare said the mission was completed “with clockwork precision.”
SC ORDER
The Supreme Court had directed the state to demolish the five complexes overlooking the Vembanad Lake in a landmark order on May 8 last year
NEW TASK
Now the task on state government’s hand is to see off the huge pile of debris, again without causing much harm to the environment
The 55-meter Golden Kayaloram was brought down by just 15 kg of explosives at 2.29 pm, after Jains Coral Cove, also 16-storey but having a height of 60 meters, was brought down at through controlled implosion using 395 kg of explosives at 11.03 am on Sunday.
WATCH DEMOLITION OF JAINS CORAL CAVE BELOW