Twin towers now 'charged' with 3,700 kgs of explosives

Noida: The rigging of both the illegal towers of Supertech in Noida with around 3,700 kgs of explosives has been completed for their scheduled demolition on August 28, officials said. The charging process placing of explosives was completed on Monday evening and the next procedure, known as trunking, will start on Tuesday, they said.

A total of 40 people, including blasters and trained workers, had started charging the Ceyane (29 storeys) and Apex (32 storeys) towers together on August 13, according to an official of Edifice Engineering, the firm hired to demolish the twin towers. Later, the team focused on Ceyane alone and completed its charging by August 17 and then moved to Apex, where the work was completed on Monday, the official said.

We had made a schedule to complete the charging process by August 26. We had kept a buffer period for ourselves in order to make sure that the work gets completed in any case well before the scheduled demolition at 2.30 pm on August 28, the Edifice official said.

"Now that the charging is complete, the next work is to connect all explosives together and then recheck these 20,000 connections in both the towers. After that is done, a main connection with the detonator will be made on the day of demolition only," the official added.

Of the 40 workers present at site for charging, only 10 would remain on August 28.

Among them would be two Indian blasters and Edifice project manager Mayur Mehta and seven members of its South African expert partner Jet Demolition, according to the official.

The nearly 100-metre tall structures are scheduled for demolition in pursuance of a Supreme Court order that found the twin towers in Sector 93A were built in violation of norms.

According to the estimates prepared by the project officials, the demolition of the Apex (32 storeys) and Ceyane (29 storeys) would leave behind approximately 35,000 cubic metres of debris to be cleared and clouds of dust to dissipate.

Noida Authority's General Manager (Planning) Ishtiaq Ahmed said 21,000 cubic metres of the debris would be moved out and dumped at an isolated land measuring five to six hectares in city's work circle seven limits and the remaining would get accommodated in the basement areas of the twin towers where a pit has been made.

"The post demolition debris would be managed scientifically as per rules and guidelines. A final decision on it would come from the regional pollution control board which is examining a report from Edifice Engineering on debris management, Ahmed said.

According to Mehta, around 1,200 to 1,300 truck-loads of debris would have to be moved out from the site.

"However, there has been one good thing of late. The Jet Demolitions team has been tracking flow of the wind for the last one week or so and they have found it flowing towards the West. If the same pattern continues, then most of the dust would blow towards the front side of the twin towers, which is a road followed by an open city park," he said.

The favourable wind direction would prevent the dust from settling within the premises of Emerald Court and ATS Village societies both in close proximity to the twin towers.