KENDRAPARA: The demolition of the tallest twin towers in Noida by implosion technique had an Odisha touch. Chief scientist and professor at the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) Debi Prasanna Kanungo (55) from Kendrapara played a vital role in the demolition as the group leader, Geo-Hazard Risk Reduction Group (GHRR), Planning & Business Development Group (PBD) of CSIR-Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) Roorkee.
Speaking to TNIE over phone from Roorkee, Kanungo said, “The Allahabad High Court had, in April 2014, ordered the demolition of the twin towers on a plea filed by the Emerald Court Apartment Owners’ Association. The Supreme Court in its order in August 2021 directed CBRI to execute the demolition work under its overall supervision and expert guidance on May 22, 2022. I on behalf of CBRI appeared before the apex court and urged to defer the demolition to August 2022 as the preparatory work for the demolition was under progress. The court, considering our opinion, deferred the demolition work to August 28.”
The court also allowed a buffer period of one week (August 29 to September 4) to take care of any marginal delay due to weather and technical reasons. “On a war footing, we scanned many demolition companies across the globe and selected Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering which also took help of Jet Demolition company of South Africa,” he stated. The demolition was successful and it took 9-10 seconds for the entire building to crash, added Kanungo.
After completing BSc in Geology from Dharanidhar College, Keonjhar, he went on to pursue M Tech in Applied Geology from IIT, Roorkee and PhD on Disaster Management. Since 1994 he has been working as a scientist in CBRI.