Sending a strong signal against the illegal constructions that mushroomed along the coastline of Kerala, two apartment complexes — H2O Holy Faith and Alfa Serene — were razed on Saturday.
The demolition of the two towers of Alfa Serene and H2O was uneventful and progressed as planned.
The structures located near the apartment complexes, including the houses and the Kundannoor bridge remained intact.
H2O Holy Faith was the first one to be brought down by controlled implosion at 11.18 a.m. Though the explosives were scheduled to go off at 11 a.m., it was delayed for 18 minutes as a helicopter of the Indian Navy did a sortie near the building.
The blast was delayed for a few minutes on safety grounds as the aircraft flew past the buildings minutes before the scheduled blast, said officials of the Edifice Engineering, which undertook the demolition job.
Fire and Rescue officials cleaning the Thevara-Kundannoor bridge in front of the demolished apartment H2O Holy Faith
It was the tough stand adopted by a Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra against the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) violations that culminated in the demolition of these apartment complexes. The court had found that the apartment complexes came up in violation of the rules.
The demolition of the apartments was the first such event of this magnitude in the State where thousands of instances of CRZ violations have been reported.
Two more apartments, Jain Coral Cove and Golden Kayaloram, will be demolished on Sunday.
Controlled implosion
While the controlled implosion at H2O appeared to be a sophisticated affair with sounds of explosives muffled, the blasts that took place at Alfa Serene rattled the area with its powerful sound and vibration. Splinters could be seen flying into the nearby water body at alarming speed. Some debris had also fell into the nearby water body.
The explosions rattled the nearby areas and the shock was felt even at buildings located at least 500 metres away from the demolished site.
Where H2O once stood.
The concrete structures that came down were quickly cloaked by dust that emanated from the scene. It took around ten minutes for the clouds to dissipate at the place where Alfa Serene stood tall a few seconds ago. The visibility in the area was also reduced significantly for some time as the dust settled. The palm fronts of coconut trees in the vicinity turned grey as the dust settled on them.
Life returned to normalcy around thirty minutes after the blast when the traffic curbs were relaxed.
