Noida: Demolition of Twin Towers, Apex and Ceyane, which was constructed by Supertech in violation of the building norms in sector 93A of Noida, as directed by the Supreme Court was carried out successfully on Sunday, a New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) spokesman said here.
Clouds of dust covered the area immediately after the demolition which was carried out by Edifice, the company entrusted with the task of demolishing the 103 meter tall structure, bigger than the historical Qutub Minar in New Delhi.
There are no reports of loss of life during or after the demolition. It is the biggest demolition exercise in the history of the National Capital Region (NCR) in Uttar Pradesh.
Sources said that hospitals and medics were kept on alert in case of any exigency.
Anti-smog guns were used to settle the dust so that pollution does not spread in other areas. Sources said that Richter scales are being used to measure the intensity of the blast. It will take around three months to remove the debris.
The Noida spokesman said that as per the order of the Supreme Court the Twin Towers constructed on plot number GH-04 in sector 93A have been demolished at 2.31 pm. “The demolition exercise was carried out by Edifice Engineering of Mumbai and Jet Demolition Agency of South Africa. It took only 10 seconds to demolish the buildings,” he said.
Noida CEO Ritu Maheshwari said that residents of the neighbouring buildings, which were vacated before the demolition, can return to their dwelling by 7 pm.
The spokesman said that there was effect of dust and smoke for 10 minutes after the demolition. “A joint team of the Authority and Edifice Engineering inspected the spot after the demolition during which no defect was deducted in the structures of adjoining Emerald Court and ATS Village buildings. Only 10 meter long boundary wall of ATS village and some glasses were damaged in the demolition, which will be repaired soon,” he said.
He said that tankers were being used by the authority to remove dust which has gathered on the roads. “Roads were cleaned using a sweeping machine. Smog gun water sprinkler was used to settle the dust. The roads have been cleaned by the sanitation workers, water tanker and sweeping machine,” he said.
The spokesman said that traffic on the Noida-Greater Noida expressway has resumed. “Emerald Court and ATS Village which were adjacent to the Twin Towers have been cleaned. To check the Air Quality, monitoring equipment was installed at six places and the air quality was monitored continuously during the demolition and AQI is normal,” he said.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi and Director General of Police (DGP) DS Chauhan to closely monitor the entire exercise.
Before demolition Police Commissioner Alok Kumar visited the spot and took stock of the preparations. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi and Director General of Police (DGP) DS Chauhan to closely monitor the entire exercise.
Noida CP said that a 500 meter area was vacated in the wake of the demolition and all roads were cordoned off. He said that traffic on Noida-Greater Noida expressway was restricted from 2 pm to 3 pm. Kumar said that the Twin Towers were demolished using waterfall technique in which the buildings instead of exploding, implodes inwards.
Deputy CP (Traffic) Ganesh said that google maps was updated with roads, which were blocked in the wake of demolition, so that people could get information regarding traffic movement. It may be noted that 9,600 were drilled in both the towers and were stuffed with 3,700 kilogram explosives.
Sources said that around Rs 17.55 crore has been spent on demolishing the two buildings, which will be borne by the builder Supertech.
It may be mentioned here that so far action had been taken against 26 people, including officials, employees of Noida Development Authority (NDA), builders and architects, who were found guilty of irregularities in the construction of twin towers by the builder Supertech.
CM Yogi got the 15-year-old matter investigated thread bare after the SC ordered the demolition of the twin towers. During the probe collusion between the employees of NDA and the builder was established.
It may be mentioned here that between 2004 to 2006 the NDA allotted 54,820 square meter plot number GH 04 in sector 93A to Messrs Supertech Construction Private Limited. The authority approved layouts on the plot from time to time.
As per the layout approved by the authority total 17 towers having capacity of 660 residential units were to be constructed. While 15 towers are of 15 stories, two towers are of 30 and 32 stories respectively.
On August 31, 2021 the SC ordered its demolition within three months due to non-availability of required minimum open area between the twin towers and for not taking consent from the previous allottees. On the appeal of the agency selected to carry out the demolition, the apex court extended the time limit till August 28.
