Roads in the exclusion zone, including those right outside such as portions of Gehja road and Jaypee flyover, had heavy police barricading, with entry restricted to the general public. An incident command centre was parked. Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal New Delhi 280822All eyes were on Noida as the Supertech twin towers were demolished at 2.30 pm Sunday leaving a large dust cloud in its wake. A deafening roar was heard as the implosion happened and slight tremors were felt in areas lying in the vicinity of the towers.
In the hours leading up to the demolition, the vicinity saw a flurry of activity with top officials taking stock of preparations from an incident command centre, drones monitoring the towers, and tankers and anti-smog stationed to carry out the clean-up.
Roads in the exclusion zone, including those right outside such as portions of Gehja road and Jaypee flyover, had heavy police barricading, with entry restricted to the general public. An incident command centre was parked on Jaypee flyover where Noida Police, along with traffic police personnel, had been monitoring the situation since early Sunday.
The incident command centre was a hub of activity — two large LED TVs fed CCTV footage of cameras placed around the twin towers, personnel monitored the on-ground situation, along with radio equipment through which all police personnel were connected to the centre.
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Several key faces, including Utkarsh Mehta and Mayur Mehta of Edifice Engineering, the firm responsible for razing the towers, were spotted entering the centre, along with an official from Jet Demolition. Speaking to The Indian Express, DCP (Central Noida) and Incident Commander Rajesh S said. “The incident command centre is a mobile unit. We get feed from seven CCTV cameras positioned around the exclusion zone, which is being monitored at the centre. We have two traffic police personnel who are monitoring traffic and giving live updates, including diversions and congestion points… We have one expert from radio department. There are five incident sub-commanders who will communicate with me through radio. Before the demolition, I will take an okay signal from all incident sub-commanders, and six people who are allowed at the site will conduct a final round of inspection. There is an initiation point which is around 100-120 metres away from the towers, where I will be present at an incident command post. Once the sub-commanders give okay signals, I will give a signal to the blast team and the countdown will begin.”
DCP Traffic Ganesh Prasad Saha was also present at the flyover and monitored traffic along the Noida-Greater Noida expressway and other areas via CCTV footage. On the impact of demolition on traffic, Saha said earlier in the day, “Since 7 am the roads around the towers were barricaded and entry of vehicles/persons was prohibited. People who are evacuating are allowed to do so but other than them, no one can enter the vicinity of the towers. Traffic on Noida-Greater Noida expressway is normal at the moment. The expressway will be shut down 15 minutes before the demolition. Post demolition, once dust settles down, we will try our best to open the expressway in half an hour. Managing closure of the expressway will be the biggest challenge for the Noida Police. A lot of commuters use it to reach the airport or for long journeys, for them, we have laid down diversion schemes. Google Maps has an auto-update so commuters can access alternate routes.”
Several key faces, including Utkarsh Mehta and Mayur Mehta of Edifice Engineering, the firm responsible for razing the towers, were spotted entering the centre, along with an official from Jet Demolition. Joint Commissioner of Noida Police, Love Kumar, was also seen inspecting preparations. Addressing the press, Kumar said, “A 400-500 metre exclusion zone has been created, which has been barricaded and entry of people is prohibited… Ambulances have been positioned at strategic points. Post-blast cleaning equipment by Noida Authority has been put in place along with fire tenders. Residents from both Supertech Emerald Court and ATS Village have been evacuated. Evacuation has been carried out and ensured by committees formed by RWAs. Only a few people who are involved in the demolition preparations are on site, they will also be evacuated before the time allotted for demolition.”
Traffic along the Noida-Greater Noida expressway and other areas was monitored via CCTV footage. Abhinav Saha At noon, water tankers were seen arriving at the flyover just as Noida Police commissioner Alok Singh arrived at the command centre. District Magistrate Suhas LY was also present, who along with Singh took note of preparations and the on-ground situation accessible through the centre.
Addressing the press, Singh said, “For the past six months, preparations have been carried out by several agencies for the demolition. Noida Police will follow orders of the Supreme Court to the best of their abilities. We have created an exclusion zone, and all living beings from this zone have been evacuated including pets and strays. Sub-incident commanders are inspecting assigned areas, and we are also monitoring on-ground situation through this command centre. Edifice Engineering has factored in the distance between one of the towers in Emerald Court and the twin towers, and in case there is an emergency, the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) teams have been strategically deployed to look after it.” Singh then went to meet NDRF officials.
At around 1.30 pm, CEO Noida Authority Ritu Maheshwari arrived at the centre. With around half an hour left for demolition, Noida Police sent drones towards the towers to take a final look around. Countdown began with barely minutes to the demolition, and with a deafening noise the towers come down. Dust was seen flying into the parks facing the towers, and it began to dissipate shortly after.
At this point, large anti-smog guns were switched on. As part of the dust management plan of the Authority, tankers began spraying roads with water. Around 4.30 pm, mechanical sweeping machines and sanitation staff were deployed for the cleaning process with more water tankers.