KOCHI: Following the demands from the residents to remove the concrete debris which fell into the backwaters during the Maradu flat demolition, Vijay Steels and Explosives, contracting firm assigned with the demolition of Alfa Serene twin towers, has started the process.The move comes in the wake of an intervention by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). “The Maradu municipal secretary had submitted a report before the joint committee comprising the Ernakulam district collector, RDO and a member of the Kerala Pollution Control Board on July 18 saying that all the debris have been safely removed from all sites. The joint committee forwarded the report to the state government,” said Baiju M A, Chief Environmental Engineer, Pollution Control Board, Ernakulam.
Meanwhile, NGT’s state-level monitoring committee chairman Justice Ramakrishna Pillai received a complaint regarding the remaining waste in the backwaters. “We visited the site on July 24 based on his directions and found that many concrete particles which fell into the backwaters during the demolition are yet to be removed. The chairman also visited the site on July 26 and directed the municipal secretary to remove the waste with immediate effect,” he said.
The work is being currently done using multiple earthmovers. As floating earthmovers are not viable in the area, a small portion of backwater is being filled with soil to take the earthmovers near to the concrete remnants in the waters. Almost 20- metre long area from the banks is being filled with a portion of the debris.
Maradu municipality councillors allege that unilateral approach of the municipal secretary in submitting the final report resulted in the situation. “When fishermen dived into backwaters as part of their protest, they could stand in the middle as the debris-filled area has only waist-deep water. The report was submitted without evaluating the ground reality. To avoid the PCB imposing a fine over its poor management of waste removal, the secretary went ahead with a report which whitewashed the wrongdoings of the contractor.
When the entire demolition aims to reclaim the original width of backwaters, it ended up in creating more damage to the environment,” said Antony Ashanparambil, councillor, Maradu municipality. “With each passing day, the debris is being filled with silt. Until they bring back the backwaters to normal condition, we will continue our fight,” said A Sugunanandan, a local resident.