The Kerala government has approached the doyen engineer and Guinness record holder SB Sarwate to overlook the demolition of the disputed flats in Kerala.
Sarwate is a mining engineer from Indore in Bhopal, who specialises in demolition and controlled explosions. He holds the Guinness World Record for demolishing the maximum number of buildings and has joined the state government as a consultant for the obliteration of four flats at Marad Municipality in Ernakulam district of the state.
According to reports, Sarwate will arrive in Kochi on Thursday and the Kerala government will decide on the company to whom the demolition task will be assigned to after consultation with him. Currently, three companies are being considered by the state government for the demolition.
Out of this, one of the companies that can complete the demolition task within the specified time frame will be picked by the government. The demolition processes will be supervised by SB Sarwate. Five housing complexes by four builders are to be demolished. The flats are H2O Holy Faith, Alpha Serene, Jain Coral Cove and Golden Kaayaloram.
The Supreme Court ordered the demolition of the apartment complexes on September 6 after it found that they were constructed in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone rules. The residents of these flats have vacated the premises after the top court mandate.
The apex court has directed the builders to provide compensation to the flat owners. The SC said that Rs 25 lakh should be given to each flat owner as an interim payout and has ordered the compensation to be paid within four weeks.
While delivering the verdict, the top court had asked to set up a three-member committee, headed by retired Kerala High Court Justice K Balakrishnan Nair and other experts for further evaluation on the compensation. The remaining compensation amount payable to the flat owners will be evaluated by the committee and further hearing over the matter will be done on October 25.
