NOIDA: The city, including the Sector 93A area where Supretech twin towers were demolished, received rains on Monday evening, with pollution control department officials saying the showers will help check the post-demolition dust.
Residents of Emerald Court and ATS Village -- the two societies most impacted by the demolition -- were also upbeat with the sudden rain, a day after the nearly 100-metre tall illegal twin towers were razed to ground, leaving behind a whopping amount of debris and dust.
While the tonnes of debris would take 90 days to be disposed of, the dust would take up to a week to be cleaned out from the area, according to officials involved in the demolition.
"No doubt the rainfall will be very effective in checking the dust around the twin towers area. While water sprinklers and anti-smog guns have been deployed there since Sunday evening, there still remain some areas, like terraces of towers, etc, where dust settles. The rains would even clean up those areas and also have an effect on the debris site," Regional Officer, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, Praveen Kumar told PTI.
The rainfall, he added, was sudden and recalled that it had been around a fortnight since the last drizzle.
Kumar said the official figures of the Monday rainfall were yet to be compiled.
However, residents said the rainfall in the evening has been "good".
"It rained for around half an hour. We have been discussing that nature has come to our rescue now. We are very happy and hoping it would help ease the situation further," Naresh Keswani, a resident of Emerald Court, said.
Top officials along with the Noida police commissioner inspected the twin tower demolition site Monday as the issue of debris management remained a concern for them as well as residents of nearby societies.
Edifice Engineering said it would take 90 days to clear the debris, estimated to be around 80,000 tonnes of concrete, steel and iron.
A meeting with residents was held at the Emerald Court society in the afternoon by officials of Edifice Engineering, Jet Demolitions, Central Building Research Institute and the Noida Authority while Police Commissioner Alok Singh and Joint Commissioner Love Kumar were also present.
Edifice Engineering was hired for the demolition job and it had roped in South African firm Jet Demolitions as a collaborator.
The CBRI was appointed as a technical expert by the Supreme Court while real estate developer Supertech bore the cost and the Noida Authority oversaw the whole exercise.
"The police commissioner has also inspected the site where the implosion was carried out yesterday. Residents are happy with the demolition. Now Edifice is looking after the debris management.
They are now looking to carry out the secondary breaking of the debris before sending it for recycling," Joe Brinkkman, the managing director of South African Jet Demolitions, told reporters after the meeting.
He said the Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering looked at all best possible plans for debris management and also consulted Jet Demolitions, which has to its name, among other projects, the successful demolition of the 108-metre-tall Bank of Lisbon building in Johannesburg, South Africa in November 2019.
"Edifice has consulted debris management widely to look at all the best options first. The most important thing is that it (debris) does not go to waste, is recycled and reused," Brinkkman said.
"After the Bank of Lisbon building demolition, we had also done the same thing.
We made sure that everything was recycled and reused and up to world standards," said the Jet Demolitions MD, who was part of the seven-member detonation team for Noida twin towers demolition.
Mayur Mehta, project manager for Edifice Engineering, said the debris management plan has been submitted to the Noida Authority and accepted by them.
"It would take 90 days to clear the debris from the site in a safe manner," Mehta told PTI.
Edifice Engineering partner Utkarsh Mehta said around 35,000 cubic metres or approximately 80,000 tonnes of debris was left in the aftermath of the eye-popping event.
Around 50,000 tonnes of it has been absorbed in the basements of the now-demolished towers while the remaining would be disposed of in 90 days.
"We will have to coordinate with the Emerald Court and ATS Village societies for the disposal since the debris would have to be first processed at the site only and then it would be taken to construction and demolition waste processing centres.
Coordination would be needed for fixing the timing for work at the site to cause the least disturbance to residents," he told reporters post-demolition Sunday.
Work to clean the debris was in full swing on Monday in the two nearby residential societies and the roads around the now-demolished Supertech twin towers, Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari said even as sudden rains in the evening brought hope for a quick respite from dust.
While Emerald Court would take one more day to be cleaned, the work at ATS Village could extend up to seven days due to more rubble and dust on the premises, according to officials.
"About 500 workers and machinery which include 100 water tankers, 22 anti-smog guns, six sweeping machines, etc have been installed around the now-demolished twin towers area to complete the cleaning work inside and outside ATS Village and Emerald Court societies at the earliest and mitigate dust-related issues," Maheshwari said after a site visit.
Noida Authority officers have been instructed for the extensive cleaning work in the societies, she said.
The Noida Authority said residents of Emerald Court have sought one more day for cleaning work on their premises and that has been accepted.
"In ATS Village, the cleaning work would take about seven days," it said.
Around 5,000 residents of the two societies -- closest to the twin towers -- were evacuated for the day ahead of the 2.30 pm explosion on Sunday that brought down the towers in just 12 seconds along with thousands of tonnes of debris and clouds of dust that spread in the nearby areas.
While locals rejoiced over the sudden rains on Monday evening after a dry spell, officials said the showers would definitely be helpful.
"No doubt the rainfall will be very effective in checking the dust around the twin towers area. While water sprinklers and anti-smog guns have been deployed there since Sunday evening, there remain some areas, like terraces of towers, etc, where dust settles.
"The rains would even clean up those areas and also have an effect on the debris site," Regional Officer, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, Praveen Kumar told PTI.
Around 50 per cent of residents of Emerald Court and 75 per cent of ATS Village had returned to their homes in Sector 93A by Monday.
They were allowed to return from 7 PM onwards Sunday after safety clearance from an inspection team that included officials of Edifice Engineering, Jet Demolitions, Central Building and Research Institute (CBRI) and Noida Authority.
Maheshwari said cleaning activities like washing and sweeping, which had started Sunday evening itself, were continuing in full swing and a large number of workers and officials were on the job.
"Water was being sprinkled on trees and plants in the two societies and nearby areas that got covered by dust in the wake of the demolition, while roads were also being washed, '' she said.
She said electricity, domestic gas and water supplies were restored soon after the inspections post demolition.
"The supplies are running normal and no malfunction has been observed by our officials till now. We are keeping a close eye on all the supply lines," the senior IAS officer said.
"Green garbage caused due to twin tower demolition has been cleared from various areas. Washing, sweeping and other cleaning activities ongoing," Maheshwari tweeted.
Meanwhile, police personnel remained deployed at a road stretch in front of the now-demolished twin towers.
The stretch has been barricaded for a fortnight now for security reasons.
While the twin towers are gone now, several people tried to reach close to the huge mounds of debris to take pictures and videos on Monday.
Standing nearly 100-metre high -- taller than Qutub Minar (73 metres) -- the twin towers were India's tallest illegal residential structures to have been demolished.