Maradu flats demolition: Their dream homes left behind, residents look for new address

As the deadline fixed by the state government to vacate the flats ended on Thursday, many residents are yet to find a new address or shift out their belongings from the high-rises. To ensure that they leave, the state government has said it will snap power and water supply at Thursday midnight. The supply had been snapped earlier too, but was later restored to enable the flat owners to pack.

Among those leaving is a 54-year-old doctor attached to a medical college. “I haven’t gone to work since September 25. It is heart-wrenching to leave this flat which I bought a decade back with a bank loan. My youngest daughter goes to school. I have to find a flat somewhere here to ensure that the relocation does not affect her schooling. I could not find a feasible alternative place as builders elsewhere have started exploiting the situation and demanding exorbitant rent. So, I have decided to move in with my brother, who lives with his family at a village in Ernakulam district,’’ he said.

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As the movers unscrewed kitchen cabinets, doors, window panes, bulbs and even switch boards, the women were seen packing appliances and clothes. Choked by emotion, many of them could not speak.

A flat owner who has returned from the Gulf said, “I bought this house because my parents are buried in this city. Everyone is now saying we had a nexus with the builders who constructed the flats in violation of CRZ norms. This is a clear case of miscarriage of justice.’’

Bijoy P, another resident, said everyone had abandoned them. “The government, the politicians and the judiciary jettisoned us. We have to now pay loans on these soon-to-be-demolished flats and also pay rent for the premises we move into. Many of us work with private firms and cannot keep away from work for long. We have to start a new life at the earliest,’’ he said.

Sava Maradu Homes Samithi chairman Shamsudeen Karunagappally said the government should have given the flat owners more time to move out. “This is a blatant violation of human rights. There is nobody to help us,’’ he said.

Although political parties had taken a stand that they would protect the interest of the flat owners, not a single political leader turned up at any of the four complexes on Thursday. Their flags, however, fluttered on the gates to the premises.

As on Thursday night, 243 owners had vacated their flats and the others were in the process of vacating, said government sources. They have all been asked to vacate by midnight, added the sources.