Notably, in the biggest such demolition witnessed in the country, the floors of the Supertech twin towers collapsed onto each other in a stack as thousands watched from vantage points outside the 'exclusion zone' in Noida's sector-93A on the outskirts of New Delhi.
As the buildings went down, a cloud of dust rose obscuring the very final moments of the structures that the Supreme Court had ordered a year back to be demolished. About 5,000 people from the adjoining Emerald Court and ATS Village societies had left their homes, hours before the demolition carried out around 2.30 pm. Nearly 3,000 vehicles and over 150 pets were also taken out of harm’s way for the next several hours.
As the dust settled a few minutes later, officials said there were no immediate reports of any damage to the adjoining housing complexes amid which the twin towers sat. The closest residential complex was just nine metres away. A team from Edifice and South Africa’s Jet Demolitions – the two companies that carried out the challenging task – the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) and the Noida Authority began a structural audit of the adjoining buildings.
Water sprinklers and anti-smog guns were activated at the site soon after the demolition to help contain the dust, an official said. Officials said the demolition conducted by the “waterfall implosion" technique has left an estimated 35,000 cubic metres or 55,000 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes of debris, including concrete rubble, steel and iron bars that would take three months to be disposed of.
(With inputs from ANI)
