The Supreme Court has ordered that the Noida Twin Towers, the tallest
structure in India and even taller than Qutub Minar, be demolished on August 28.
To destroy them, at least 3,700 kg of explosives would be needed. On every
floor, explosive wire connections have been constructed. Explosives have been
placed inside the Twin Towers during the past two weeks. The two 40-story
towers that are located on the Noida-Greater Noida expressway and are a part of
Supertech’s Emerald Court project that has approximately 900 apartments
spread across an area of roughly 7.5 lakh square feet.
WHY?
Due to major code violations, the twin towers are being dismantled. The
Supreme Court ordered Supertech to demolish the buildings at its own expense
under the direction of the Noida Authority after finding “nefarious complicity”
between the two parties.
2004: Sector 93A in Noida was chosen as the proposed location for the housing
society to be known as “Supertech Emerald Court.”
2005: The construction plan, which featured 14 towers with nine floors each, a
shopping complex and a garden area, was approved by the Noida government.
2009: A new plan however, was formulated at a later stage. It revised its project
in 2009 to include twin high-rise buildings — Apex and Ceyane.
2012: The new plan, in which the height of the twin towers was set at 40 stories,
was examined by the Noida authorities. After that, the society’s Residents’
Welfare Association (RWA) filed a petition with the Allahabad High Court
claiming that the construction was unlawful.
2014: The authority was ordered by the Allahabad High Court to demolish the
twin towers within four months of the date the order was filed (at its own expense). Additionally, it had instructed the builder to reimburse the funds made by flat buyers with a 14% interest charge.
August 2021: The Supreme Court confirmed the Allahabad High Court’s
decision and ordered the structures to be demolished, noting that they had been
built in violation of the building codes.
-Numerous petitions from home owners in favour of and against the Allahabad
High Court’s decision led to the Supreme Court’s decision.
While August 28 was to be confirmed as the day of demolition, there was to be
a “bandwidth of seven days” between August 29 and September 4 to account for
any minor delays brought on by technical difficulties or meteorological
conditions.
The twin towers’ construction was judged to have violated the minimum
separation standard by the Supreme Court. It claimed that the towers were
constructed in violation of building codes and fire safety standards. The top
court authorised the prosecution of officials for violating the Uttar Pradesh
Industrial Area Development Act of 1976 and the Uttar Pradesh
Apartments Act of 2010 when it ordered the demolition of the illegally built
towers in August 2021. The court also claimed that the towers were built
through “acts of collusion between the officers of NOIDA and company.”
Supertech Limited
Supertech Limited was established on December 7, 1995, and is an unlisted
public corporation. Its headquarters are in New Delhi, Delhi, and it is
categorised as a public limited corporation. The business is a developer of
properties. It creates properties for residential, commercial, retail, offices, and
hospitality. It classifies itself as a service provider as well.
Concerns regarding demolition
The Supertech twin buildings in Noida’s demolition raise a number of
questions.
- The amount of dust that the demolition will produce is the first.
- Even though officials have stated that the debris will be removed within
three months, the second is the clearance of the debris. - Third, scientists have expressed concern about windblown dust produced
by the blast, which can linger in the air for weeks and harm nearby
residents’ health. The Noida Authority has stated that in order to combat
the dust threat, they will offer water tankers, mechanical cleaning
machines, and sanitation personnel. Additionally, officials vowed to
check the air quality.
