It took just nine seconds to change Noida’s skyline as the Supertech twin towers, declared illegal by the Supreme Court almost a year ago, were brought down on August 28 using the controlled implosion method.
The demolition was conducted at 2:30 pm at sector 93 A, Noida, by Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering, which had been roped in by Supertech to demolish the structures.
Catch all the live updates of the Noida Twin Tower Demolition here
Edifice Engineering, in turn, had roped in South African experts Jet Demolitions for the project. The entire exercise was monitored by the Noida Authority.
The two towers were first connected and a 100-metre-long cable from the structures to the exploder was put in place, where the button was pressed by Chetan Dutta, the certified blaster.
At the time of the demolition, six people were on site. These included Dutta, from Jet Demolition MD Joe Brinkmann, senior manager Kevin Smit, and chief safety officer Marthinus Botha, as also project manager Mayur Mehta (from Edifice Engineering), and a police officer.
The blast area was covered with four layers of iron mesh and two layers of blanket, to ensure that no rubble would fly off.
Over 3,700 kg of explosives were used, which had been stuffed in 9,400 holes drilled in columns and shears. The cumulative distance between the drilled holes was almost 18 km.
Traffic was diverted as the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway remained shut between 2.15 pm-2.45 p.m.. Ambulances and fire tenders were on standby at the site. In order to curb pollution, the Pollution Control Board had installed 10 anti-smog guns.
Also Read: Noida Twin Tower Demolition: The Man Who Will Bring Down 32 Floors
The towers, comprising 850 unfinished flats, were demolished following the Supreme Court (SC) order of August 2021 that found that their construction within the Emerald Court housing society was in violation of norms and hence illegal.
The ministry of civil aviation had declared a no-flying zone of one nautical mile around the towers during the demolition.
Towers T-16 and T-17, also known as Apex and Ceyane, are the third tallest structures in the world to be demolished. Apex (32 storeys) and Ceyane (29 storeys), had more than 900 apartments that accommodated 1,500 residents, and covered an area of 7.5 lakh square feet.
Five thousand residents of the two adjoining societies — Emerald Court and ATS Village — were evacuated from the area at 7 am on August 28, as the societies are barely nine metres from the blast site.
The Emerald Court Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA) moved the Allahabad High Court (HC) in 2012 over the twin towers after it was found that the builders had violated Uttar Pradesh (UP) Apartment Owners Act, 2010.
An area designated as the garden in the original plan was allegedly encroached upon by the twin towers. The buildings were built with less than 16 metres between them, which was a violation of the law. The entire demolition exercise, that includes both the test blast and the final blast, will cost the developer around Rs 20 crore.
The demolition has left approximately 80,000 tonnes of construction and demolition waste, of which 50,000-55,000 tonnes will be used as landfill on the site and the rest will be sent to a construction and demolition plant for processing.
The SC had okayed the demolition. This was to be done on August 21, but the court accepted the Noida authority’s request and extended the date to August 28, with a “bandwidth of seven days” from August 29-September 4, to take into account any delay on account of technical reasons or weather conditions.
Supertech had received an approval from the Noida authority to build 14 towers of nine floors each, a shopping complex, and a garden area at the site. However, it revised its project in 2009 to include two high-rise buildings — Apex and Ceyane.
In 2014, the Allahabad HC ruled that the towers were illegal and ordered their demolition. The Noida authority and Supertech approached the SC challenging this order.
Also Read: Supertech Twin Towers Demolition: Will it send out a tough message to builders and authorities?
On August 31, 2021, the apex court upheld the HC ruling and ordered the demolition. The Supreme Court found the construction was in violation of the minimum distance requirement. It noted that the towers were built without complying with building regulations and fire safety norms.
It said that the removal of the garden area to make way for the construction of Apex and Ceyane was done without the consent of the flat owners, in violation of the UP Apartments Act, 2010.
While ordering the demolition in August 2021, the top court said that it was built through “acts of collusion between the officers of Noida and the company,’’ and sanctioned the prosecution of officials for violation of the UP Industrial Area Development Act, 1976, and the UƒP Apartments Act.
Even though the Court ordered the demolition within three months, multiple delays led to the final date being set for August 28, 2022.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
