Every time my car drives down the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, I can’t avoid the sight of two tall towers covered with white clothes as if in mourning. These tall towers are effigies of corrupt practices of builders, who in connivance with corrupt officials took homebuyers for a ride, not delivering what was promised and in this particular case, there were gross violations and the buildings were completely unauthorised.
India’s highest court Supreme Court noted that the tower construction was a result of “nefarious complicity” between the Noida Authority and the builder Supertech and that is the reason why the complete demolition of the twin towers was ordered.
The twin towers will be blasted on August 28, Sunday. For the last few days, the residents of the adjoining apartments are having sleepless nights. I stay a few kilometres away from these towers, but the anxiety is building up in my residential society as well.
TWIN TOWERS
The 40-story illegal Supertech twin towers in Noida are reportedly taller than New Delhi’s Qutub Minar and will be brought down using explosives. The towers will be blasted on Sunday after over nine years since the residents first went to court. The towers will be destroyed in just about nine seconds using 4,000 kg of explosives.
The illegal project was once billed as among the biggest in the region, covering 7.5 lakh square feet and could have been one of the best in the vicinity.
ANXIOUS RESIDENTS
Around 50,000 residents staying in sectors around the twin towers are bracing for traffic diversions and road closures. There is a local vegetable and fruit market adjacent to these towers which is also going to be closed that day and the owners of the temporary stalls in the market are concerned about the impact the blasts will have on their structures. The blasts will test the structural strength of around a dozen or so residential buildings in the vicinity of these towers. All necessary tests have been done from civil engineering perspective, but the residents here believe all will be well if it ends well on Sunday. Some reports say the demolition may trigger “one-tenth of a Magnitude-4 earthquake”. The health department is preparing for any emergency situation that may arise in the aftermath of the razing of these structures. Apart from the government facilities, a few private hospitals are also readying themselves to accommodate patients in case of any untoward incident.
ROAD CLOSURES
A full check will be done 30 minutes before the blast and in a few seconds, the towers are expected to be razed to dust. The roads around the twin towers will be sealed at 7 am on Sunday while Noida and Greater Noida Expressways will be closed at 2:15 pm. The roads will be reopened after the dust settles. The administration hopes the expressway will close for just half an hour.
BLAST PROCEDURE
The controlled blast will be carried out by a company called Edifice Engineering which has been contracted by Noida authorities and the builder Supertech. Edifice Engineering has had success in similar projects abroad. The explosives on each floor have been connected with wires and the blast will be set off by pressing a button from around 100 metres away. The dust is expected to remain for 12-15 minutes after the demolition, but the debris transportation can take days or months. It is expected that Apex (32 floors) and Ceyane (29 floors) will collapse within seconds. The demolition will be carried out under the supervision of the Noida Authority and an expert body like the Central Building Research Institute.
SHATTERED DREAMS
The demolishing of the twin towers may also be a sad day for hundreds of possible buyers who once booked flats in them but never got to enter their dream homes. However, Supreme Court has assured that all home buyers of the 40-storey twin towers in Noida will get back the full amount deposited with the real estate firm Supertech.
(Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.)
Watch WION’s live TV here:
