Kochi: Afraid to attract contempt charges by the Supreme Court, the Ernakulam district administration on Tuesday began demolition of the Mazhavil restaurant built on the flood line of the Periyar by the District Tourism Promotion Council headed by the District Collector himself in 2005.
An official team led by ADM B Ramachandran and Aluva tahsildar, Chandrasekharan Nair supervised the demolition carried out by a private contractor of the Public Works Department on the orders of the District Collector. A team of 15 workers and a JCB were involved in the operation Tuesday morning.
Although the private contractor reportedly sought two months to do the job, the PWD has given him 15 days to complete it. While Mr Ramachandran said the debris would not be removed for the time being, some of it was taken away at the end of the day.
A team of environmentalists led by Prof S Seetharaman, secretary of the All Kerala River Protection Council, placed a wreath on the restaurant, before the demolition began in a symbolic gesture signifying its end. In prof. Seetharaman's view the KMRL should seek the permission of the Aluva municipality to plant trees in the area as part of its compensatory afforestation programme.
Mr N Ramachandran, secretary (legal) of the Association of Environmental Protection, Aluva, said the area occupied by the restaurant was filled in 1997-98 by the Aluva Municipality using plan funds. “There was even a ferry called Kamiyil at the time which later stopped its services,” he recalled.
