The Noida Authority has decided not to extend the deadline to remove debris from the twin towers demolition site and ordered that the work be finished in the stipulated time of 45 days, sources privy to the development said.
They added that Edifice Engineering, the firm carrying out the debris removal work, has also been directed to install sound barriers at the site to reduce noise pollution levels.
More than five months after the Supreme Court-directed demolition of the twin Supertech towers in Noida, only around 65 percent of the construction and demolition (C&D) waste has been cleared from the site.
The Noida Authority had on January 11 given an extension of 45 days to Edifice Engineering to clear the debris from the site. The original deadline for clearing the debris was November 28.
On August 28, 2022, the nearly 100-metre structures, taller than the Qutub Minar, were demolished within seconds by controlled implosion on the orders of the Supreme Court over illegal construction.
Sources in the Noida Authority said that a meeting of all stakeholders including residents of Emerald Court, the apartment complex adjoining the site, and Edifice Engineering was conducted earlier this week where CEO Ritu Maheshwari said that no fresh extension would be granted and the work has to be finished within the given time of 45 days.
Edifice Engineering carried out the demolition of the twin towers and is overseeing the debris removal process.
Mayur Mehta, the Edifice Engineering project manager, said that the work was stalled and he was yet to be apprised of any such directions from the authority.
The work pertaining to removal of debris was initially stopped because of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to control the spike in pollution in Delhi-NCR. But after the GRAP order was withdrawn, it was stalled again for nearly a month owing to complaints of Emerald Court residents about high levels of noise pollution.
In December 2022, a study was conducted in the area by the Central Building Research Institute, which said noise pollution was higher than permissible limits.
In January 2023, the Noida Authority had said that fresh tests of sound levels in the region will be conducted. The exercise is yet to take place, sources said.
The standards for the noise levels vary for daytime (DT) and night time (NT). According to norms, for residential areas, the permissible limit is 45 decibels during the night and 55 units during the day. For commercial areas, it is 55 decibels (NT) and 65 decibels (DT) while for industrial areas it is 70 units (NT) and 75 units (DT).
Residents said that the sound pollution is alarming in the area and they have been bearing with it ever since the debris removal work started.
Inderjeet Kaur, a resident of Aster-2 tower of Emerald Court, said that the agency should finish the work at the earliest and build the road in front of the tower, work that is pending because of the debris removal work.
“There is no road in front of our tower and in case of any incident like a fire, it will be hard for emergency vehicles to reach here. Sound levels remain very high in the area when the work of breaking of iron bars is in progress. We want the dug-up portion to be filled using the debris and the road connecting Aster 2 and Aster 3 towers should be constructed soon,” Kaur said.
Supertech’s Apex (32 floors) and Ceyane (29 floors) towers, part of the Emerald Court complex in Noida’s Sector 93A, had become the highest buildings demolished in India, a little over a year after the country’s top court ordered them razed for illegal construction.
The razing of the two towers has left behind an estimated 80,000 tonnes of debris. Under the plan, around 50,000 tonnes of debris would be used for filling in the pit where the towers stood while the remaining 30,000 tonnes are to be transported to Noida’s C&D waste management plant in Sector 80.
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