Six months after the demolition of four illegally built apartment complexes in Maradu municipality in Kerala's Ernakulam district, the procedure has officially come to an end this month with the removal of the debris.
The rubble and the steel rods have been removed from the sites, making the plots where the high-rises stood look as flattened as a playground.
However, some invisible remnants, such as concrete piles and the pile caps of the buildings, still remain underground waiting for nature to destroy them.
Some say this means the land has been practically rendered useless, but others, including environmentalists, are of the view that the demolition has served its purpose and there is nothing to worry about the land.
"The debris clearing has been done and the site is completely clear now. However, the pile caps cannot be removed as they are very deep. It is practically not possible to remove them," Fort Kochi Sub-Collector Snehil Kumar Singh, who was the officer-in-charge of the demolition, told Onmanorama.
He said formally the demolition procedure has ended. Asked about the future of the land and its ownership, Singh said the apex court was to decide on that. As of now, the plots of the apartment are in the collective ownership of those who owned the flats.
Singh said the issue of removing pile and pile caps was discussed while planning the demolition process itself.
'Difficult process'
Structural engineer Divya Divakar pointed out the difficulties in removing the concrete structures underground.
"Removing the pile and pile caps is practically difficult. I doubt whether the machineries to pull them out are available in the country. Moreover, it is an expensive process. Usually, during demolition, underground structures are left intact," Divya, executive editor of Construction Philosophy, a civil engineering magazine, said.
She was also apprehensive of the possibilities of using the sites for farming. "From our experience, it is difficult to grow plants in plots comprising concrete particles. Even if we try to fill new soil there, the pile caps will be an obstacle," she said.
Construction is banned in areas that fall under the Coastal Regulation Zone-III category.
Farming possibilities
Senior structural engineer Anil Joseph, however, said the piles and pile caps remaining underground should not be a hurdle for activities like farming on the plots.
"They will be only in certain points and it will not be a problem for roots running deep into the soil. Removing those piles is impossible as they are 12-150 feet long. The demolition meant only razing down the structure over the ground and we were quiet aware of what we were doing," Joseph, who was a part of the advisory panel for the demolition, said.
Environmentalist C R Neelakandan echoed similar views. He said there's no need to be concerned about any activity on the plots as no development activity is supposed to be carried out there. He said the concrete remaining underground would not cause any environmental hazards. "They will degrade over a couple of centuries," he said.
65,000 tonnes of rubble
The contract to remove the debris from all the five sites (Alfa Serene twin towers are situated in two plots) was awarded to the Kochi-based Prompt Enterprises. They finished the job on May 24 after a break of nearly two months due to the COVID lockdown. It took 30 to 40 working days for them to remove 65,000 tonnes of rubble, said Achyuth Joseph, a representative of the company.
He said 70-80 per cent of the debris of Holy Faith H2O and Jain Coral Cove flat complexes were recycled and used to make hollow blocks.
The debris of Alfa Serene towers and Golden Kayaloram could not be used for making hollow blocks as it contained red bricks. It was used for road making and land filling.
"We transported the debris directly to the sites where it had to be used. Though we had arranged a plot at Kumbalam for dumping it, we did not have to use it," Joseph said.
'Roads damaged'
Maradu municipality vice chairperson Boban Nedumparambil said the residents near the flat sites did not face any issues during the removal of the debris. "Some roads have been damaged due to the regular trips carrying the debris. The municipality has allocated funds to repair them," he said.
PCB happy
The Pollution Control Board recently visited the site and taken stock of the status of the debris removal. It is learnt that they are satisfied with the works done.
On May 5, it had visited the sites and issued a notice to the municipality to remove the concrete slabs fell into the lake when the Alfa Serene flats were demolished. The slabs were removed a couple of days ago.
