What's the story behind Noida's twin towers?
In 2004, the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) allowed Supertech Ltd. to build a housing society named Emerald Court. It consisted of 14 towers.
In 2009, two more buildings were added by Supertech. These were called Apex and Ceyane (together they were known as the twin towers).
The construction of the twin towers caused a legal dispute between the residents of Emerald Court and Supertech.
What was the legal dispute about? Who won?
In 2012, the people of Emerald Court went to the Allahabad High Court (High Court). They claimed that the twin towers were constructed illegally. In 2014, the High Court agreed with the residents and ordered their demolition.
Supertech then went to the Supreme Court of India to get this order changed. However, even the Supreme Court agreed with the High Court. It found that the construction of the twin towers was breaking many laws. These included not following fire safety rules, not maintaining the minimum distance between two buildings, etc.
An area that had to be a garden was also not built by Supertech. Instead, that area had been used up by the twin towers. On 31st August 2021, the Supreme Court confirmed the demolition of the twin towers.
How were the twin towers demolished?
The two towers were brought down using a method called 'waterfall implosion.'
In this method, explosives are placed all over the building that has to be demolished. Once everything is placed, a switch is pressed to make the building fall like water in a waterfall (that’s where the name waterfall implosion comes from).
A Mumbai-based company named Edifice Engineering used 3,700 kg of explosives to carry out this demolition. All it took was nine seconds for the entire building to fall.
What is the impact of such a demolition?
Such a huge demolition definitely has an effect on the surrounding areas. The debris from the demolition weighs about 8 crore kilograms!!
We can expect that the entire area (or even some part) of the city will be covered with dust for the next few days. The air quality of the area will also be bad till all the dust settles.
People in the area may experience breathing problems and stomach aches as well.
Are such buildings usually demolished?
If the court orders then any illegally constructed building can be demolished. In 2020, four buildings were demolished similarly in Kochi, Kerala.
Let’s hope the dust settles soon so the environment and people are not harmed by the demolition.
