Post Maradu demolition, dust in the eyes and at home

Local residents gherao Maradu chairperson, say municipal officials have not honoured promise to clean houses ‘within two hours’; power supply not restored around Alfa Serene yet
Nearby residents of the demolished Holy Faith H2O gheraoing Maradu municipal chairperson T H Nadeera at her office on Monday
Nearby residents of the demolished Holy Faith H2O gheraoing Maradu municipal chairperson T H Nadeera at her office on Monday

KOCHI: Though the Maradu municipality officials had promised to clean the houses in the vicinity of the four apartment complexes which were demolished on Saturday and Sunday, they are yet to launch the cleaning drive. Frustrated by dust from the concrete debris floating continuously in the air, residents in the neighbourhood gheraoed Maradu Municipality chairperson TH Nadeera at her office on Monday. The vociferous blockade, which lasted for over an hour, also witnessed the councillors locking horns with each other on the matter.

“Though all the elected representatives are very eager to hog the limelight over the flat demolition, they are least bothered about our concerns. Ever since the implosion of the apartments on Saturday, we have been battling dust particles floating in the air. All of us have lost count of cleaning drives we have done at our homes due to the excessive dust deposits. But our councillors are only being seen on television channels,” said Somon Joseph, a nearby resident of Holy Faith H2O.

Meanwhile, the electricity connection is yet to be restored in the area around Alfa Serene twin towers. “We were told our homes will be cleaned within two hours of the demolition. Forget cleaning, they are not even ready to restore our electricity connection. If it was restored, we could have cleaned the houses on our own,” said Sugunandan N G, a resident near Alfa Serene. However, municipality officials passed the buck to the district administration.

“Every matter related to the demolition of Maradu flats and related works are being managed by the district administration and contracting firms. Even then, the municipality has provided water tankers to clean the houses and the residents refused these for unknown reasons. We have reached out to the contracting firms to complete the spraying of water over the debris with immediate effect. Once it is over, the municipality will help the residents clean their premises,” said Nadeera.

The municipality officials have also clarified that the electricity connection is being restored in a phased manner and will get completed by Tuesday. Despite repeated attempts to contact Fort Kochi sub-collector Snehil Kumar Singh, who is in charge of demolition, he was unavailable for comment.

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