Two luxury apartment complexes in southern India were demolished today (January 11th) by controlled explosion for violating planning regulations.

In total, more than 350 flats - which housed around 240 families - in the coastal city of Kochi will be brought crashing down from today as the Kerala government carries out one of the largest demolition drives in India involving residential complexes.

The exercise comes after the Supreme Court ordered the demolition of four residential buildings in a posh lakeside location in the city over violation of coastal regulation norms.

A rare stance taken by the law enforcers show demolition of two high risers back to back over violation of environmental norms in the south Indian state of Kerala.

The demolition of the second building, twin towers of Alfa Serene took place on January 11 in the Maradu locality of the city of Kochi.

Visuals show the demolition of the 16-storey twin towers, Alfa Serene, facing the famous backwaters of the state.

Few minutes after the demolition of the 18-storey apartment, Holy Faith H20, the towers exploded in the same pattern as the previous building.

The blast leaves behind a massive cloud of dust which slowly sweeps into the surrounding area as the crowd gathered to watch the spectacle.

According to the reports, after a long court battle between the government and residents over the violation of the coastal regulation zone (CRZ), the four waterfront property was ordered to be demolished by the Supreme Court of India.

Out of the four, the two high risers, 18-storey Holy Faith H2O and 16-storey Alfa Serene twin towers were razed to the ground by the authorities in the morning with the controlled use of dynamites.

The planned execution was delayed due to caution issued by the aerial supervisory after a large crowd had gathered close against the prescribed distance of 200 meters(220 yards) it was asked to maintain.

The explosion was conducted at 11.44AM.