Noida: Lawns, balconies, pools in plastic wrap, families leave with a prayer

NOIDA: With a prayer on their lips, and yet invigorated by the culmination of a legal victory that will see the twin towers go down on Sunday afternoon, residents of Emerald Court began packing their bags and leaving their houses.
In the adjacent ATS Greens Village, a similar exercise was underway and will continue through the night and dawn. The societies in the immediate neighbourhood have to be evacuated by 7am.
The common areas of both the societies were wrapped in plastic sheets - fountains, pools, lawns, plants, benches and so on - as were the balconies of the flats that will be in the firing line of the massive dust cloud that the demolition would kick up.
Many residents have booked hotels till Monday while others are planning to go on a short trip or to relatives' places. The RWAs said that around 50% of 7,000-plus residents in the two societies had already left.
Ravi Kapoor's flat in Aster-2 is barely 9 metres away from the twin towers. "I live with my wife and elderly parents. We are leaving on Saturday itself. We have used multiple plastic layers and a ply board to cover our balcony. We have also got the window glasses removed for safety reasons," he said.
"We have shifted a Lord Ganesha idol from our house to a safer place. We plan to return on Monday. I will, however, come and check the situation on Sunday evening," he added.
Abhyuday Agrawal, a resident of Aspire-4, is planning to vacate his flat on Sunday morning. "We will spend time with our friends and neighbours. We have fought together for long to bring down these towers. The RWAs of the nearby societies have made arrangements for us. The prime concern is that the dust can impact the health of people, especially senior citizens," he said.
The Emerald Court RWA has formed a task force to ensure complete evacuation by 7am on Sunday. "Around 50% of the residents have already left the society. The remaining will leave by Sunday morning," said Captain Rajesh Kashyap (retired), a task force member.
The residents of nearby ATS Village also began evacuating from Saturday. Kena Shree, who lives in Tower 7, said, "My building is opposite the twin towers. We are leaving the flat in the afternoon and hope to return on Monday. We will be staying in a guesthouse."
Rajneesh Nandan, the RWA president of Parsvnath Prestige A, said their society had made arrangements to accommodate around 100 people in their clubhouse. "We have made arrangements for breakfast, lunch and evening snacks. We have also arranged for a team of doctors to attend to people in case of an emergency," he added.
Noida MLA Pankaj Singh also visited Emerald Court on Saturday and interacted with the residents. "This is a safe demolition," he told a gathering.
DP Kanungo, a senior scientist with the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), was also at Emerald Court on Saturday. "CBRI has vetted the preparations and found them perfect for implosion. This will be a waterfall demolition - tilted slightly towards the south-west on the roadside. If it rains, it will be a blessing. The dust cloud will be there for some time and will settle down slowly," he said.
"After the demolition, a team from Edifice Engineering will inspect the Emerald Court and ATS Village towers. It will give a green signal to the control room. We will then lead a team for inspection of the premises. After our nod, residents can return to their homes," he added.
Charan Singh, an India Meteorological Department scientist, said there was a possibility of slight rain on Sunday. Anti-smog guns will be made operational from 2pm to ensure the environment around the twin towers is moist and facilitate swift mitigation of the dust after the demolition.