Noida Twin Towers: Project manager tells residents 'not to be afraid'

A day before the demolition of the Supertech Twin Towers in Noida that are taller than the Qutub Minar, the Project Manager of the team deployed for the task assured the nearby residents to have faith in them and said that the best team was working to ensure a safe demolition.

"I understand the concern of the nearby people here, but I would like to give the message to them that please don't be afraid. The best team in the world is working on the project," said Jigar Chedda, Project Manager, Edifice Engineering, while also expressing hope for everything to go well during the demolition of the Supertech Twin Towers in Sector 93A, Noida tomorrow.

"The Noida authorities have issued guidelines for the neighbouring people as they are very clear about what the people have to do, when they need to leave and come back, and what all precautions we are taking, the nearby residents are aware of everything," he added.

He said that the demolition will be completed in 12 seconds after which the Noida authorities can bring machines and people to clear the dust and everything that would follow.

He also expressed 100 per cent confidence in retaining the GAIL pipeline which is installed under the ground near the Twin Towers.

"GAIL pipeline is designed as per the Richter scale of 4 in the area which is already 3-metre under the ground. We have already spread plates and have created bumps over it so it is 100 per cent that there will be no damage to the pipeline," he said.

Chedda further called the aforesaid project 'technically more challenging' than the previous three explosions which were done in Kochi, Ranchi, and Indore. "We will go as per the plan," he said.

Earlier on Friday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Central) in Noida Rajesh S had disclosed that the administration has geared up for the demolition of the towers with over 400 civil police personnel to be deployed at the spot along with eight ambulances and four fire tenders.

The DCP had also mentioned in the press conference that several beds were also reserved in as many as three hospitals for contingency and a green corridor will also be made if required.

The Indian blaster who will press the button to demolish the Twin Towers - Chetan Dutta explained the details of the process that will raze the towers and termed it a "simple process".

"We'll be almost 50-70 metres away from the building, there will be no danger and we are very much sure that the building will collapse in a proper way... blasting area is covered with four layers of iron mesh and two layers of blanket, so no rubble will fly past but dust may," Dutta had said.

The demolition in Noida is scheduled to take place at 2.30 pm on August 28.

The demolition of the Apex (32 storeys) and Ceyane (29 storeys) towers would leave behind approximately 35,000 cubic metres of debris that would take at least three months to be cleared.

The go-ahead for demolishing the twin towers with explosives was given by the Supreme Court. The exercise was earlier supposed to start on August 21 but the court accepted the Noida Authority's request and extended its date of demolition to August 28.

The twin towers are set to be razed over grave violations of building norms. The top court had said that it was a result of "nefarious complicity" between the Noida Authority and Supertech and ordered that the company shall carry out the demolition at its own expense under the supervision of the Noida Authority and an expert body like the Central Building Research Institute.

The order had come on a batch of petitions filed by homebuyers for and against the April 11, 2014 verdict of the Allahabad High Court which had ordered razing of the two buildings within four months and the refund of money to apartment buyers.

The Supreme Court has said that the date of demolition may be confirmed as August 28, with a "bandwidth of seven days" between August 29 to September 4, to take into account any marginal delay on account of technical reasons or weather conditions.