CHENNAI: On a Wednesday filled with nail-biting suspense when technicians battled an erratic weather, a 11-storey building at Moulivakkam was demolished successfully - a first such operation in the city.
Coming after a prolonged legal battle, the demolition’s scheduled timing on Wednesday had to be postponed three times. As the sun set, speculations were rife that the demolition would be postponed to another day. However, the explosives went off at 6.50 pm, bringing down the structure in a matter of three-four seconds.
Local residents, who by then had lost their patience and were planning to stage a protest over the delay, burst with joy and clapped as the building came down kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
The memory of the tragedy of June 28, 2014, when 61 people were killed in a building collapse at the same site seemed distant.
P Ponlingam, Managing Director of Mag Link, the company that carried out the demolition, had almost become a celebrity with people thronging to get his autograph. “We had to delink the explosives from connector fearing rain and thunderstorm. But started again at 1.30 pm,” he said explaining why the demolition was much delayed. The building collapsed almost vertically. It took nearly 10 minutes for the massive dust created by the demolition to settle down.