Noida's Supertech twin towers finally demolished after 9 years battle

|HT|

Supertech's twin towers in Uttar Pradesh's Noida were finally demolished at 2.30pm on Sunday, ending the nine-year saga. 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 controlled implosions using 3,700 kilograms of explosives were India's biggest demolition to date. Thousands of people, as well as stray dogs, had to be evacuated before the blast, including from neighbouring high-rises, one of which was reportedly just nine metres away.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to nearby buildings.

The go-ahead for demolishing the twin towers with explosives was given by the Supreme Court.

On Saturday, the Noida Police commissionerate issued an advisory, on the eve of the demolition of the Supertech twin towers in the city, asking the media personnel to station at the designated place for the media coverage, while also making sure to bring an ID card of the organisation.

The Police also shared the contact number of the administration which include ACP Rajnish (8595902521), district information officer Rakesh Chauhan (9560544878), and the traffic helpline (9971009001).

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.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)