Accordingly five giant waterfront residential towers in Kochi’s Maradu, which were once home to 344 families, turned to dust over saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile the buildings, which were in violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules, were ordered to be demolished by the supreme Court. Furthermore while the buildings are now gone and the debris is being cleared has justice been served and the losers in this saga are clearly the residents who lived in these buildings for over 10 years but who are the villains, and will they be brought to book?
Further the four apartment complexes H2O Holy Faith, Golden Kayaloram, Jain Coral Cove, and the twin towers of Alfa Serene were constructed after the local body, the then Maradu panchayat, granted permission to the four builders back in 2005-06. Accordingly these permissions were granted in violation of CRZ rules. Even though three of the builders were arrested, along with three former staff members of the Maradu panchayat, the political leaders behind these permissions are yet to face any music.
Moreover according to advocate and environmental expert Harish Vasudevan, the case against builders will not stick in court since they did their due diligence in getting the permission from the local body. Harish told “The case will only stand strong if it is stated that such a particular rule was violated wilfully, with criminal intention. Particularly, it is hard for the case to stand against the builders, since they constructed the building after getting permission from the local body". Moreover Harish points out that the kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority should ideally be taken to task for not effectively completing the updated Coastal Zone Management Plan which marks what zones each region belongs to.
