By Durga Chakravarty Noida 19 Aug : Teams of experts are racing against the clock to insert four tons of explosives inside the ripped down structure of Noidas Twin Towers marked for demolition on August 28 in the most adventurous task in Indias time.
Engineers from South Africa and Mumbai are working all day long to complete the destruction of Apex and Cayenne towers, which comprise 915 flats.
The towers took 3 years to construct but were later ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court, signalling zero tolerance for builders who are not trustworthy.
The illegal towers that are rising up to 103 meters sit between the upmarket communities of ATS Village and Emerald Court in Sector-93A.
They are just nine metres away from the Aster-2 apartment block in the latter.
Edifice Engineering, the Mumbai-based demolition firm assigned with the job, said that work is progressing at full speed to fill about 7,000 holes that have been drilled with explosives.
“The firing (with explosives) of Cayenne is complete and we’ve been able to rig all the way to the 10th floor of Apex,” Project Director Mayur Mehta told IANS.
The engineer explained that experts have selected plastic explosives of different types employed in the civilian industry for blasting heavy-duty and not military-grade ones.
However, anxiety was evident in the Emerald Court residents, who have to leave their homes by 7 am the greater portion of August 28 to take protection against the inevitable cloud of dust and shooting stones.
Some residents took part in an ‘Kirtan’ celebration on Friday, seeking the assistance of God for unflawed demolition, the 2nd major one since 2020 , when Edifice collapsed four blocks containing 350 flats in Kerala that were only half the height of the Noida towers.
“Some 4000 tonnes of debris will fall in just a couple of seconds and the primary concern of most of us is in which direction the towers will fall,” said Aster-2 resident Pratap Chakravarty.
Edifice has confirmed that the debris falling will be directed toward a service road.in the worst-case scenario the chunks of concrete might flatten a small section of the compound wall of ATS.
“We must only pray as this is the biggest demolition in India and there are concerns about the integrity of our foundation pilings,” Ajay Mehra, another Aster-2 resident, told.
U.B.S.Teotia the president of Emerald Court RWA, is clearly one of the most busy people involved in the development.
“We have managed to get the majority of the pillars fixed and I even fought with them to finish task in time,” Teotia, a former CRPF officer told IANS.
However, residents have other concerns too.Many have begun asking carpenters to join glass window panes in order to minimize the impact of the blasts.Some are worried about their gardens.
Residents in Emerald Courts and other nearby apartment complexes are working on their own plans for the day’s evacuation , along with pets or elderly people who are bedridden.
“Both my parents are bedridden as well as we have an animal We’ll summon an ambulance to transfer to an inpatient hospital for a day or that’s what we do,” said a neighbourhood resident who declined to be identified.
Edifice Engineering chalked up August 25 as the day to conduct the rehearsal of the evacuation.
It will include the police, fire department emergency medical team, and officials.
A close NOIDA flyover will likely be the most popular destination for droners and news photographers to capture the dramatic destruction.
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