Yesterday was a day full of events involving two of the most important cities in Asia. About the second one, we all know cause it was a cricket match between India vs Pakistan, a cricket rivalry which is one of the most intense sports rivalries in the world but do you know about the second one? The demolition of the Twin Towers!
Naah, we’re not talking about the US-based Twin Towers that were struck by two hijacked commercial airliners during the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The Twin Towers we’re discussing here were part of Supertech’s Emerald Court project at Noida Expressway. The demolished towers, Apex and Ceyane, were nearly 100-metre-tall, taller than Delhi’s Qutub Minar.
The Reason
When the original plan for the Supertech Emerald Court housing society was sanctioned, they were allowed to construct 14 towers of nine floors. Later, in 2006, the builder increased the land area to 54,819.51 sq metres and added two new towers, which were built by the builder illegally without taking the consent of the individual flat owners.
In 2012, the Noida authority reviewed the plan, and the builder was allowed to build 40 floors in each tower, violating the minimum distance requirement norms. After several petitions by the homebuyers in 2014, the Supreme Court directed the authority to demolish the towers within four months at its own expense.
The Demolition
The decade-long battle ended when the builder demolished the tower at 2:30 PM, and the skyline of Noida changed in just 9 seconds. Yes, the explosives took just 9 seconds to topple the illegally constructed Twin Tower. The spectacle demolition was performed by Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering along with South African firm Jet Demolitions.
The decade-long battle ended when the builder demolished the tower at 2:30 PM, and the skyline of Noida changed in just 9 seconds. Yes, the explosives took just 9 seconds to topple the illegally constructed Twin Tower. The spectacle demolition was performed by Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering along with South African firm Jet Demolitions.
The Power of Explosives
The process of demolition of such a high-intensity process called implosion, while the explosives used to destroy the buildings were equivalent to three missiles of the Agni-V, twelve missiles of the BrahMos, or four Prithvi missiles. The controlled explosion, which used 3700 kilograms of explosives, forced a building to collapse into itself. Take a look at the explosives involved in the operation:
Emulsions
Dynamites
Shock tubes
RDX (Cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine)
Gel and powder formed explosive material
The explosives were set into the building via 9,640 holes, measuring 2.634 millimetres. The demolition took place after several government agencies allowed and permitted the operation. In the end, the blasters lighted one end of the cord and created history as it was one of the most extensive demolitions in our country.