Illegal twin towers in Noida demolished, air fills with dust in aftermath
Noida, August 28, 2022
Supertech's twin residential towers located in Noida's Sector 93-A were demolished on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. as the nearly 100-metre-tall structures, found be in violation of building regulations, were razed to the ground in barely nine seconds through controlled implosions.
As soon as the twin towers were demolished, a huge cloud of dust was seen all around the buildings.
The dust particles could affect people's health for the next three to four days. Therefore, specially children and the elderly people have been instructed to wear face masks.
Thousands of people gathered to watch the twin towers collapse and captured the demolition on their mobile phones.
Vipul Singh of Delhi University who specialises in environmental history, said: "After the collapse of the building, two types of dust will fly in the air. One of these will be coarse particles of dust which will fall on the ground immediately but the smaller dust particles will remain in the air for a long time since the wind is blowing. The small dust particles will remain within two to three kilometres for the next three to four days. If the wind speed increases, then the small dust particles will remain in the air for lesser time."
"If it rains here, then the situation may turn normal soon. People will need to wear masks to avoid dust from affecting their health since it can cause serious health hazards. Small particles of cement that are not visible can harm people and could enter into their lungs which can create health problems later on."
He further added: "The debris of the building after demolition will also take time to be transported fully and when it is transported on trucks, it will also have to be seen that the trucks are covered properly."
The builder will bear the loss of Rs 17 crore in demolishing this building. This was the largest such demolition in the real estate sector in the country.
Before demolishing the building it was connected to the trigger box. After a countdown of 10 to 0, a series of explosions took place and the building was razed to the ground.
People living in these towers have been provided shelter in another nearby housing society. All residents of Supertech's Emerald Society hads vacated their houses.
Soon after the successful demoliton, teams from Edifice Engineering, which carried it out, and others kicked off the next phase of work.
Personnel from Edifice Engineering, Jet Demolitions, the CBRI, and Noida officials have started to analyse and survey the adjacent buildings, as well as the rubble left after the demolition.
The twin towers were demolished using a controlled implosion technique at 2.30 p.m. on Sunday. It took nearly eight months of hard work and determination to demolish the twin towers worth nearly Rs 800 crore. As per an estimation, a total of Rs 17 crore has been spent on the demolition exercise, which will be borne by the builder.
The towers, which were built nine years ago, took just nine seconds to be reduced to dust and rubble. After the demolition was completed, NOIDA CEO Ritu Maheshwari said that the exercise was carried out as per the plan.
She added that the cleaning of the area is being done, and gas and electricity supply will be soon restored in the area while people will be allowed to enter the neighbouring societies after 6.30 p.m.
Maheshwari said that while no damage to the nearby buildings has been seen yet, however, the final observation will be made later.
Nearly 500 police and traffic personnel were deployed around the twin towers to carry out the demolition exercise safely. The Noida-Greater Noida Expressway remained shut between 2.15 p.m. and 2.45 p.m., while a no-fly zone was imposed over the city for drones.
Vinay Singh, an assistant working with Indian blaster Chetan Dutta, who pressed the last button for the blast, told IANS that the operation was completed successfully. He said that months of hard work and dedication had come to a happy end today with the fall of the towers.
IANS
