Eviction of Kochi flat owners on Sunday

The Kerala government has said the process for evicting residents of four illegal apartment complexes here, ordered to be demolished by the Supreme Court, would commence on Sunday.

Authorities have sought the residents' cooperation to complete the process in four days.

"Please understand that we are implementing the Supreme Court order.

Thereis absolutely no chance...no condition under which we cant do that and it will happen,Snehil Kumar Singh, Fort Kochi sub-collector, who was given additional charge as secretary of the Maradu municipality, said on Saturday after attending a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Tom Jose here.

The residents protested saying they require more time for shifting.

"We are ready to leave.But we have certain conditions. If the government agrees to it, the entire operation can be carried out smoothly," a representative of the flat owners said.

Earlier in the day, the Chief Secretary said the government would take steps to demolish the apartment complexes built on the coastal zone of Kochis Maradu as per the action plan submitted by the government in the top Court.

Officials saidthe four apartment complexes would be demolished using controlled implosion technology.

Tom Jose said the state government would pay Rs 25 lakh interim compensation to each flat owner within four weeks as ordered by the apex court.

Jose also said banks have been directed to freeze assets of builders and promoters who were involved in the construction of illegal buildings in the coastal zone areas.

His statement comes a day after the Supreme Court directed demolition of the apartment complexes within 138 days, a timeline given by the Kerala government, and asked the state to pay Rs 25 lakh interim compensation to each flat owner within four weeks.

The Court had said the government may consider recovering the interim compensation amount, which will be paid to flat owners, from the builders and the promoters.

The top bureaucrat in an affidavit had said, "There are 343 flats in the four multi-storeyed apartment buildings covering an area of 68,028.71 square metre.

The municipality has an area of 12.35 sq km and is densely populated with a population of 3,619 per sq kms. Two national highways namely NH-47 and NH-47(A) pass through this area."