Summary:
Noida, Aug 28 (PTI) The stage is set for the safe demolition of Supertech"s twin towers here this afternoon in what is expected to be a breathtaking spectacle of engineering to raze to the ground the nearly 100-metre-tall structures borne out of corruption.
The towers -- both taller than Delhi"s iconic Qutub Minar -- will be brought down in less than 15 seconds by waterfall implosion technique.
the They will be the tallest structures yet in India to be demolished, officials said.
There was excitement and anticipation as several people, including families and children, gathered at the site on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, clicking selfies and taking videos of the two towers "All arrangements have been made and preparations done for the safe demolition of the twin towers as per schedule at 2.30 pm tomorrow," Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari told PTI Saturday.
Over 3,700 kg explosives will be used to bring down the structures in pursuance of a Supreme Court order that found their construction within the Emerald Court society premises in violation of norms.
Around 5,000 residents of Emerald Court and adjoining ATS Village societies in Sector 93A have to vacate their premises by 7 am on Sunday while also removing nearly 3,000 vehicles and taking away 150-200 pets, including cats and dogs, with them for the day.
Several of them left on Saturday itself, with some going to relatives" or friends" places in Delhi-NCR only while some driving out to Uttarakhand and Rajasthan on short vacations.
The closest buildings next to twin towers are Aster 2 and Aster 3 of Emerald Court society which are just nine metres away.
The demolition would be done in a manner so as not to cause any structural damages to other buildings, the officials said.
While nearby Noida-Greater Noida Expressway will be closed from 2.15 pm to 2.45 pm, the city will remain no fly zone for drones.
The air space in one nautical mile radius above the blast will also remain briefly unavailable for flights during demolition time, according to Noida Authority.
All work related to placement of explosives and connecting them is already complete.
The only work remaining is interconnecting the twin towers and placing a 100-metre-long cable from the structures to the exploder, from where the button would be pressed on Sunday, project officials said.
"Once last-minute checks are done and all teams get down from the buildings, the two buildings Apex and Ceyane, have to be inter-connected.
After that a 100-metre-long cable would be run from the towers to the exploder to demolish the buildings," Edifice Engineering"s project manager Mayur Mehta said on Saturday.
"Once we get the clearance from the police department that the exclusion zone is 100 per cent clear, then at 2.30 pm on Sunday we will press the button," he said.
Mehta said only six people, including three foreign experts, Indian blaster Chetan Dutta, a police officer and himself, will remain within the exclusion zone to push the button for the blast.
Asked how confident he was regarding safe demolition, Mehta told PTI: "100 per cent.