Chander Kunj residents demand a year’s rent in advance to vacate

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Families set to be evicted from their apartments in the unstable Chander Kunj Army twin towers by the end of this month are determined to fall in line only if the Army Welfare Housing Organisation (AWHO) credits rent for a year to their bank accounts before that.

This was after the AWHO objected to paying rent to all 208 affected families and came up with a list of 43 owners as eligible for rent at a meeting of the district committee — constituted with the District Collector as convener to oversee the demolition and reconstruction of the twin towers — held on Wednesday (August 6).

“We have no idea how they reached that number. Anyhow, we are in the process of collecting self-certified sworn affidavits from all owners in compliance with the court verdict and the Collector’s committee. We will then collate them and give them to the Collector, complete with bank account details, in another five days. That owners will not vacate unless a year’s rent is credited to their accounts remains non-negotiable,” said Saji Thomas, president of the Chander Kunj Army Towers Apartment Owners Association (CATAOA), which is a constituent of the Collector’s committee.

District Collector N.S.K. Umesh also insisted that AWHO should pay apartment owners a displacement charge of ₹30,000 as agreed. It was also decided that the Thripunithura municipal secretary would issue the evacuation notices to the owners.

The meeting also initiated discussion on the pre-qualification conditions for the appointment of a Project Management Consultant (PMC) ahead of triggering tender formalities. CATAOA’s demand that a firm of international repute be appointed as PMC has been approved in principle. AWHO will also have to take necessary measures for securing various approvals, including those under the Coastal Zone Regulation norms.

Incidentally, this was the last meeting to be chaired by Mr. Umesh, who has been transferred as Director of General Education in the latest reshuffle of top bureaucrats. He will be replaced by G. Priyanka, the present Palakkad Collector. The outgoing Collector, though, has promised to fully update his replacement on the district committee so that its functioning is not affected in any way. CATAOA felicitated Mr. Umesh ahead of his imminent transfer.

During its previous meetings, the district committee had set November 9, 2025, as the tentative date for the demolition of the twin towers of the Chander Kunj Army Towers in Vyttila, and October 31, 2029, for handing over the newly built apartments.