New Delhi/Noida: The moment has finally arrived. The countdown to demolish Apex and Ceyane, the Supertech Twin Towers of Noida, which in total house 61 storeys, has begun. Apex has 32 storeys and Ceyane has 29. At exactly 2:30 pm on Sunday (August 28), the mammoth structures will turn into a cloud of dust and a pile of debris. The towers in Sector 93-A of are being demolished following a Supreme Court order that found their construction within the Emerald Court society premises in violation of norms.
With the demolition, the dreams of many people will also be destroyed. But it will become an example that no matter how high a building is built on the foundation of corruption and neglect of rules, it will face the same fate one day. Over 3,700 kg of explosives will be used to bring down the nearly 100-metre-tall structures – taller than Delhi's iconic Qutub Minar – in just 9 seconds.
On Saturday, the last-minute checks of explosives and related arrangements for demolitions were done. Officials say that all that is left now is to connect the exploder and press the button. "All arrangements have been made and preparations done for the safe demolition of the twin towers as per schedule at 2.30 pm tomorrow," Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari said. Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering has been tasked with safely pulling down the structures.
Restrictions and standing instructions
Around 5,000 residents of Emerald Court and adjoining ATS Village societies in Sector 93A have to vacate their premises by 7 am on Sunday while also removing nearly 3,000 vehicles and taking away 150-200 pets, including cats and dogs, with them for the day. The closest buildings next to twin towers are Aster 2 and Aster 3 of Emerald Court society which are just nine metres away. The demolition would be done in a manner so as not to cause any structural damages to other buildings, the officials said.
While nearby Noida-Greater Noida Expressway will be closed from 2.15 pm to 2.45 pm, the city will remain no fly zone for drones. The air space in one nautical mile radius above the blast will also remain briefly unavailable for flights during demolition time, according to Noida Authority.
All work related to the placement of explosives and connecting them is already complete. The only work remaining is interconnecting the twin towers and placing a 100-metre-long cable from the structures to the exploder, from where the button would be pressed on Sunday, project officials said.
"Once last-minute checks are done and all teams get down from the buildings, the two buildings Apex and Ceyane, have to be inter-connected. After that a 100-metre-long cable would be run from the towers to the exploder to demolish the buildings," Edifice Engineering's project manager Mayur Mehta said. "Once we get the clearance from the police department that the exclusion zone is 100 per cent clear, then at 2.30 pm on Sunday we will press the button," he said.
Mehta said only six people, including three foreign experts, Indian blaster Chetan Dutta, a police officer and himself, will remain within the exclusion zone to push the button for the blast. Asked how confident he was regarding safe demolition, Mehta said: "100 per cent. I don't have any other word. We are 100 per cent confident."
Edifice has roped in South African experts Jet Demolitions for the project. The whole exercise is being overseen by the local Noida Authority. Mehta has assured residents of adjoining societies that there will be no damage to their homes except for chances of "cosmetic cracks" on outer paint and plasters of some structures.
Technique to bring such huge structures down
There are basically three techniques to safely raze down any structure of such a scale - diamond cutter, use of robots and implosion, according to Mehta. "The technique is chosen on the basis of three parameters - cost, time and safety," he said. He said the 'diamond cutter' would have taken over two years of time to completely demolish the twin towers safely, and its cost would have been five times of the implosion method.
On using robotics, he said this technique would have caused a lot of noise over a period of 1.5 years to two years and disturbed the residents of nearby Emerald Court and ATS Village. "Its cost would have been less than the diamond cutter technique but more than implosion," he said.
The Edifice boss said since the Supreme Court had also ordered that this project should be done in the shortest possible time and with no disturbance to neighbouring residents, the implosion technique became the choice for the project.
Diversions would be placed on roads leading to the twin towers in Noida Sector 93A from Sunday morning while the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, barely 200 metres from the demolition site, would be closed for vehicular movement from 2 pm to 3 pm, DCP (Traffic) Ganesh Saha said. Google maps will have updated feeds for diversions and real-time traffic situations on Sunday, Saha said, adding that arrangements have been made for movement of emergency vehicles.
400 police personnel deployed for law and order
DCP (Central Noida) Rajesh S said around 400 police personnel would be deployed for law and order duty, while PAC and NDRF personnel would also be on the ground for any contingencies. Chief Medical Officer Dr Sunil Sharma said the health department would station six ambulances at the site equipped with officials and medicines. Beds have been reserved at the district hospital and private medical facilities Yatharth, Felix and Jaypee too.
The demolition of the twin towers will be carried out through the waterfall implosion technique which would bring them down within a few seconds literally like a house of cards. The eye-popping event would leave behind a whopping 55,000 tonnes of debris, even as some estimates put the figure at 80,000 tonnes. The debris would take an estimated three months to be cleared and disposed of.
Maheshwari said all arrangements are being made to clear the dust from the area in the aftermath of the demolition. Besides sanitation workers, mechanical sweeping machines, anti-smog guns, water sprinklers would be placed at the site, she said.
Anxious residents leave area
Residents of Emerald Court and ATS Village are anxious over the demolition, even as they expressed relief over the illegal structures finally set to go away after legal battles of more than a decade. A large number of residents of Emerald Court and ATS Village societies, which are located adjacent to the skyscrapers, have left their abode temporarily.
According to representatives of a task force made for the successful execution of the demolition exercise, residents have started leaving their homes and have gone either on holidays or shifted to their relatives' place.
Avinash Rai, a member of the task force, said all preparations have almost been completed and the residents will leave their homes by 7 am on Sunday. "The supply of electricity, water and LPG will be disconnected in the societies tomorrow morning to avoid any untoward incident. Nearly 35-40 per cent residents have already left the societies and the remaining will leave by 7 am tomorrow. We are also removing additional cars and other vehicles from the area," Rai said.
Dinesh Kaushik, a resident of Emerald Court, said he has decided to go to a nearby hill station for two days. "I am taking my family on a holiday and will return on Monday. I am also taking my pet along with me as I can't leave it here. Though we will be out of town but we will be concerned about our belongings at home as they do not get damaged due to the explosion," Kaushik said as he drove his car out of the society.
Another resident, Prabhash Maurya, said some of his neighbours have already left and headed for a holiday. "Now, I am also going to my sister's place in Greater Noida and will return here on Monday evening. We are worried about the structural safety of towers in the society as they are located close to the buildings to be demolished," Maurya said.
A resident of ATS Village society said teams of some NGOs were seen lifting stray animals, including dogs and cats, in the vicinity of the structures to be demolished.
Residents Welfare Associations of nearby societies have also issued advisories for their residents and made lodging arrangements for them in the clubhouse. Srishti Residents Welfare Association (SRWA) advised its residents to keep their doors and windows shut during and after the demolition to avoid plume of dust emanating out of the rubble.
The residents will be allowed to return only after 4 pm following safety clearance from officials. Before leaving their societies, they have taken adequate precautions to ensure their home appliances and plants are not damaged.
"I have covered all electronic items, including TV, Fridge, AC, fan and microwave to avoid dust. We have also covered our balconies with strong tarpaulin sheets to ensure the dust does not enter our house," Archana Tiwari, a resident of Emerald Court, said while leaving for Dehradun on a short holiday.
A word of caution from Kerala
There is a word of caution from a few residents of Kerala's Maradu Municipality for those living in the neighbourhood of two high rise structures in Noida to be demolished on Sunday--"Secure legal assurances from the authorities before demolition to ensure safety of your buildings".
Sugunan, 56, a resident of Maradu Municipality, here is still knocking on the doors of authorities seeking compensation for the damage his two-storey house suffered when one of the four illegal waterfront high rise apartments in his neighbourhood was brought down using a controlled implosion two years ago. He said cracks appeared in the roof of his house as a result of the demolition of Alfa Serene twin apartment complex. As a result, he suffered a loss of over Rs 3 lakh.
A plumber by profession, Sugunan said his hopes for the financial aid promised by the authorities are fading due to the continued negligence from them. He said his neighbour Ajith's house had suffered also a damage and he died of covid-19 complications while waiting for Rs 4 lakh compensation.
The timeline
- Nov 2004: Land allotted to Supertech Ltd by New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) to construct a housing complex, now known as Emerald Court.
- 2005: Builder gets permission under NOIDA Building Regulations and Directions, 1986 to construct 14 towers with ten floors each within a height of 37 metres.
- June 2006: Supertech gets extra land allotted for construction under the same conditions.
- Nov 2009: Plan revised to include two more towers. Construction of Apex and Ceyanne begins. Both towers to have 24 floors each.
- Mar 2012: The total number of floors in Apex and Ceyanne was increased to 40 each, as against the original plan.
- Dec 2012: Emerald Court Owners Residents Welfare Association moves to Allahabad High Court claiming towers violated UP Apartment Owners Act, 2010 which mandates the sanction of homebuyers for any change in the plan. Besides, the members claimed that the twin towers were constructed in an area marked as a garden in the original brochure. Further, they tell the courts that the towers were constructed at a distance of less than 16 metres between them, which again violated the mandate.
- Apr 2014: Allahabad HC orders demolition. It also asks Supertech to refund the money to all the homebuyers with 14% interest.
- Aug 31, 2021: Supreme Court declines Supertech’s plea to overturn the high court order. Twin Towers were asked to be demolished within three months.
- Feb 2022: Noida authorities inform SC that the preparation for the demolition of SuperTech Twin towers has begun and will be achieved by May 22.
- May 17, 2022: SC extends deadline to demolish the Supertech Twin towers and makes it August 28.
- Aug 12, 2022: SC extends deadline till September 4. Edifice Engineering, however, says Noida twin towers will be demolished on Aug 28 itself.
