India is all set to witness the biggest demolition of a structure with the flattening the twin towers of Noida at 2:30 pm on August 28, 2022. The towers, taller than the Qutub Minar, were illegally built by a private builder Supertech on the green area of their multi-storey housing society called Emerald court situated in sector 93A.
Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering and its South African partner firm Jet Demolitions have placed 3,700 kg of explosives to bring down the two buildings, Apex (32 storeys) and Ceyane (29 storeys), in a mere 12 seconds. About 100 workers are part of the demolition team. Blaster Chetan Dutta will press the final button after which the twin towers will disappear from the land.
Mayur Mehta, Project head from Edifice Engineering, the told The Hindu that the buildings will fall inwards like a cascade and each floor will come down one after another. The building is in a skeleton state as windows, grilles, doors, wiring and plumbing have already been removed.
The total cost of demolition is a whopping ₹20 crore, which would be incurred by Supertech. The two buildings had over 900 flats that would have earned the builder a profit of over ₹100 crore, sources from NOIDA authority said.
Safety measures
For the demolition, the 5,000 residents of Emerald court and neighbouring ATS Greens Village have been asked to vacate their homes on Sunday, from early morning till 4:30 pm.
Talking about the safety measures being taken for the residents, U.B.S. Teotia, president of resident welfare association (RWA) of Emerald Court, said that arrangements have been made to accommodate them in nearby clubs, while some of opted to stay in hotels or at a relative’s place.
Roads leading to the towers have been shut down for the entire day of Sunday, while the section of the Noida Expressway adjacent to the area has been blocked for an hour for the operation.
The area has also been declared as a no-fly zone and over 400 police personnel have been deployed in place for the demolition, informed Rajesh S., Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Noida.
“The three neighbouring residential towers next to twin towers have been covered with Geotextile fabric. The dust will spread but efforts will be made to minimise it. We have been working on this project for several months and last 15 days were the most crucial as process of charging took place in this span,” he added.
Though the engineering firm reiterated that the explosives will not affect the neighbouring buildings, anxious residents close to the site have made sure to unplug electronics, removed paintings and clocks off the wall in anticipation of the blast impact. Some have also covered their flats with curtains to keep the dust from entering the house.
“They are making full proof preparations but you never know what may go wrong. The house is our biggest investment. Getting anxious is obvious,” said Ritansha Rampal, whose house is barely 50 meters from the twin towers.
The residents are also concerned about the pollution from the demolition that will result in 80,000 tonnes of debris.
Supreme Court order
The Supreme Court on August 2021 had ordered the demolition of these buildings while hearing the PIL filed by the Resident Welfare Association of the Emerald Court, a residential society that was proposed to have 14 towers of nine floors spread out in 11 acres of land.
“In 2012, the NOIDA authority reviewed the map and allowed the construction of twin towers with 30 to 40 floors. Worst that it was built on the green land inside the society,” the RWA chief said.
