Twin towers, countless troubles Premium
The Hindu
Installation in Chander Kunj Army Towers sparks legal battle after court orders demolition due to structural distress.
If ever an installation was to epitomise the fury of a man cheated of his life’s savings, then the one in the parking lot 72 in Tower B of Chander Kunj Army Towers on Silversand Island, Vytilla, Kochi, would come close.
On the floor, spread out like a floral carpet are concrete flakes of different sizes and shapes. Alongside it, arranged on a bowl kept on a footstool are thin, rusted rebars (reinforcing bars) and brown-coloured dust into which many similar rusted rebars have been reduced into. Paul Erinjeri, 73, who retired as a captain after 28 years in the Indian Army did not painstakingly collect them from far and wide to fulfil some exotic post-retirement artistic fad.
Rather, they tumbled down off the roofs or the countless renovations forced upon many of the 208 apartment owners in Towers B and C of the apartment complex, located about a km away from the busy Vyttila junction.
On February 3, 2025, the Kerala High Court ordered the demolition and reconstruction of the two towers “to prevent casualties and protect lives and properties.”
“One of my two apartments, which together cost me around ₹1.40 crore, is now a storehouse of the debris and documents revealing how we are in danger of losing our apartments just seven years after they were delivered to us,” Paul says.
The High Court order came on a batch of writ petitions filed by the association of the owners and some individual owners. They had challenged an order from the District Collector directing retrofitting and sought reconstruction as well as compensation.
Chander Kunj Army Towers, a gated community near Thykoodam metro station, was developed by the Army Welfare Housing Organisation (AWHO), a registered society controlled by the Indian Army, solely for serving and retired defence personnel and their dependents. The construction was carried out by Silpa Projects and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. and the architect and the project management consultant was Ajith Architects. The project was supervised locally by an officer of the rank of Colonel who was in charge as the Project Director, AWHO.
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