Kochi: The demolition of the unsafe Chander Kunj Army Towers at Vyttila has hit another roadblock, with the Army Welfare Housing Organisation (AWHO) failing to appear for the scheduled handover of 208 flats on Monday and officials deferring a decision on the demolition contract, prolonging uncertainty over the long-delayed project.

The latest setback comes despite the Ernakulam District Collector issuing a fresh directive for the handover to begin on October 12, following the failure of an earlier schedule fixed for October 5. AWHO representatives again failed to turn up, leaving the process stalled for the second consecutive week and raising questions over the district administration’s ability to enforce the timeline set by the court-mandated District Collector’s Committee.

The handover concerns 208 apartments in Towers B and C of the residential complex on Silver Sand Island. The buildings, originally constructed for military veterans and their families, were found structurally unsafe because of defects, including concrete carbonation and compromised load-bearing elements, necessitating demolition through controlled implosion.

Colonel Ciby George (Retd), an affected flat owner, said the absence of AWHO representatives had brought the process to a standstill.

The development leaves both the transfer of the apartments and the formalisation of the demolition contract pending, even as the project’s original timelines have already been breached.

AWHO has maintained that it will not take possession of the apartments and that the Kanayannur tahsildar or the district administration should handle the process. However, the flat owners insist that the housing organisation must take over the properties it sold to them and provide a legally binding commitment to hand over reconstructed apartments.

The owners have sought an affidavit executed by AWHO and countersigned by the tahsildar or another authorised district official, as stipulated in the Collector’s directive. Under the proposed arrangement, each flat owner would hand over the keys against a document identifying the apartment, with AWHO accepting possession and a district administration official countersigning the record.

According to George, the documentation is intended to facilitate the transfer and subsequent handover to the demolition contractor, without imposing any additional physical possession-related obligation on AWHO. He questioned the organisation’s reluctance to proceed, arguing that the Collector’s prescribed mechanism was meant to ensure a documented transfer.

George also criticised the district administration for failing to take stronger action to enforce its own directive. “The collector could consider approaching the court over non-compliance with an order issued in accordance with the court’s directions,” he said.

While alleging that the continued impasse reflected an unwillingness to take responsibility, George said the Collector’s role in overseeing the entire exercise meant the administration also had a responsibility to ensure compliance. He alleged that the delay could not be attributed to AWHO alone if the authorities did not use the powers available to them.

The uncertainty over the handover was compounded by the lack of a decision on the demolition contract. An RDO-led sub-committee met on Monday to discuss the contract and the Request for Proposal (RFP) for appointing a Project Management Consultant to supervise the project from demolition through reconstruction.

At its previous meeting, the District Collector’s Committee had agreed to award the demolition contract to Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering, the company known for demolishing the illegal Maradu apartment towers in Kochi. The contract was expected to be signed this week, but the latest meeting ended without a final decision, with officials reportedly deciding to seek legal advice.