THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The district disaster management authority has finally ordered the demolition of Park Rajadhani building standing over the decades old Thekkanankara Canal — one of two prime canals controlling the entire storm water drainage system of the state capital.
The counter petitioner (Biju Ramesh) shall demolish and remove the structures and buildings constructed above its underground arched conduit portion within 15 days, the order said.
It observed that Mr Ramesh was the only encroacher who resisted eviction. If he fails to comply with the order, the authority will initiate Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act (DMA).
The authority’s chairman issued the order under Section 34 (K) of DMA after a series of hearings and the impasse that lasted several weeks.
“In the event of failure by the counter-petitioner to adhere to this order within the stipulated time, the district disaster management authority, Thiruvananthapuram, will undertake such demolition/removal and recover the cost from the counter petitioner,” it said.
However, Mr Ramesh alleged that it was fabricated and baseless. “I have 15 days’ time, and I will approach the Court against this order. I hope to get a stay. I produced a lot of documents during the hearing, and the order doesn’t mention any of them,” he said.
The district administration had evicted a large extent of encroachments over major canals and thodus within the city limits as part of Operation Anantha as per the DMA 2005 to control recurring flooding at Thampanoor.
The drive exposed a slew of encroachments and revealed that the Thekkenankara canal constructed 75 years ago is in an extremely precarious condition since the mortar and plastering of the brickwork have disintegrated.
As per the report of Tehsildar, the hotelier encroached nearly seven-cent purampokku land for constructing the structure.
Subsequently, an eviction notice was issued. He challenged it in HC, following which a fresh notice was issued.
A series of hearings and joint inspections were held after that on HC directions.
