Meet the trio who spearheaded Maradu flat demolition

As Kerala witnessed the mega demolition of luxury flats in Maradu, which were constructed violating Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules. Three officials are spearheading the flat implosion on Saturday and Sunday. PESO Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives Dr R Venugopal, controlled explosion expert SB Sarvathe and Fort Kochi sub collector Snehil Kumar Singh are the trio who are in charge of the demolition mission.

Dr R Venugopal, Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives, Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO)

He has given approval to the company to carry out the implosion after acquiring the No Objection Certificate from the collector. The PESO official directly supervised issuing of license to handle the explosives, its transportation and filling of explosives into the buildings. He will be present at the blasting point during the controlled implosion of the flats.

SB Sarvathe, controlled explosion expert

Sarvathe is a mining engineer who entered Guinness Book of World Records after successfully completing over 200 controlled explosions. He is a native of Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

He was selected to the technical committee appointed by the government. He was summoned for the mission as government decided to involve a person who are experienced in controlled explosion of huge buildings. Earlier, he reviewed the progress in the works twice. On Friday, he arrived the spot and examined the arrangements ahead of the implosion.

Snehil Kumar Singh, Fort Kochi Sub collector

The IAS official is in charge of the flat demolition. He belongs to 2016 IAS batch. He completed his graduation in Civil Engineering from IIT Roorkee.

Snehil selected the agencies to demolish the buildings and assured insurance coverage to the residents. He took effort to invite Sarvathe, the controlled explosion expert for the mission.

Uthkarsh Mehta and Job Bringman, the representatives of Edifice Engineering and Jet demolition companies will take leadership to demolish Holy Faith H2O, Golden Kayaloram and Jain Coral Cove. Anand Sharma from Vijay Steels will supervise demolition of the flat named Alfa Serene.