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Chennai IIT team report likely this week

Team to report on environmental aspects of demolition and general guidelines.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The five member expert committee from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, is expected to submit an interim report on the environmental impact of the demolition of the five apartment complexes in Maradu, Kochi, this week.

One of the experts, Dr. Indumathi M. Nambi, associate professor, environmental and water resources engineering department, IIT Madras, told DC that the team had visited the apartment complex in July and sought preliminary details on the soil details, the sewage treatment facilities in the apartments as well as the classification of the coastal zone regulation in the area. The team, headed by Devdas Menon, professor, structural engineering department, took up the assignment after Usha Titus, principal secretary, department of environment, approached the IIT for preparing a report on the environmental aspects of demolition, the mode in which it has to be demolished and general guidelines for such an action.

The other members in the committee are Sivakumar Palaniappan, assistant professor, building technology and construction management department; Subhadeep Banerjee, associate professor, geotechnical engineering department; and a management expert.

"We are expecting a report from the IIT team this week," said a senior government official. "The government had asked the team to speed up the preparation of the report in the light of the Supreme Court verdict. The state government is expecting the report immediately after the Onam break. It can be an interim report as they had started their work only three months ago. It is going to be an exhaustive report as it will be taken as a model report for future references."

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