In perhaps the first of its kind drive in the country against illegal residential high rises, the four concrete colossuses housing nearly 350 flats were reduced to piles of rubble in seconds one after another in just two days, two years ago.
Explosives, weighing totally nearly 750 kgs, were used in a controlled manner to bring down the lakeside structures in Maradu, eight months after the apex court ordered their demolition for violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone norms.
Watch" How Maradu flats were demolished
Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was also imposed in the evacuation zone of 200 metre radius on the days of demolition to ensure there was no movement in the area. The government, which made it clear that it will implement the court orders, had managed to evict the owners of the flat, who staged protests, saying they had invested their hard earned money in buying the flats.
On the eve of the demolitions, one of the owners had even said: "It is injustice done by a state against its citizens. The government is responsible for this situation."
The towering buildings that took several months to build and had housed 100s of families collapsed inwards into a pile of rubble like a house of cards in seconds, triggering mammoth 'clouds' of dust. Just in a few seconds, the towering buildings, whose interior walls had been removed in pre-demolition work over the past weeks leaving them concrete shells, became mounds of debris.
Not a single window of the building suffered any crack in the explosion. "That is the level of accuracy these technical experts have maintained," a police officer said lauding the companies involved in the work.
Noida twin towers demolition
Similarly, in another such incident, Supertech's illegal twin towers which are taller than Qutub Minar are going to be exploded on Sunday i.e. 28 August this year. All the preparations in order to carry out the scheduled demolition have been completed. Chetan Dutta, the Indian blaster will press the button and will demolish the Noida's twin towers in nine seconds at 2:30 pm.
The 32-story buildings, Apex and Ceyane towers, developed by builder Supertech in Noida's Sector 93A, will be demolished in pursuance of a Supreme Court order that found the structures built on premises of Emerald Court society in violation of norms.
The residents residing at neighboring buildings of the twin towers are afraid that implosion will crack their glass windowpanes and even cause structural issues to the buildings.
The neighboring building, which is located just a stone’s throw away from a spot where over 1,000 implosions are to take place has expressed fear regarding vibrations from the blast and the affect on buildings.
However, Edifice Engineering, which is undertaking the demolition with its South African partner Jet Demolitions, has assured neighbors time and again that there will be no damage to their buildings.
