Floor by floor, in about ten seconds, the “Indian twin towers” collapsed. On Sunday August 28, two towers in Noida, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, southeast of Delhi, were demolished. These are the highest towers (100 meters) voluntarily destroyed in the country, says Al-Jazeera, and of “one of the few times the Indian government took strong action against rogue elected officials and developers”.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ordered the demolition of the never-inhabited Supertech Noida, ruling that they had been built illegally. The Supertech company had acquired the land in 2004 and in 2005 obtained the authorizations for a construction plan which did not mention the towers. “In 2009, the developers rectified their project, adding several floors to the buildings already planned, the two additional towers and a shopping center”, recount The Hindustan Times.
In 2012, a residents’ association denounced the arrival of these towers in their landscape, to the High Court of Allahabad. They are based on a 2010 law: “The twin towers encroached on a space originally intended to accommodate a garden, and the buildings stood within 16 meters of each other, a gap not in accordance with the law.”
Fight against corruption or poor housing?
Bhupendra Chaudharye, the leader of the BJP (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party) in Uttar Pradesh, endorsed the destruction, wanting it to serve as an example to deter illegal building construction: “This demolition is a strong message, and we must learn from it.”
But some would have liked Noida to be rehabilitated to accommodate, for example, people in need, explains The Hindustan Times in another article. This is the case of Alok Singh, founding member of the organization Active Citizen Team:
“We respect the Supreme Court’s decision, but, to prevent all the money already spent on the construction from being thrown away, the building should have been handed over to the government. He could have turned it into a homeless shelter, a hospital, or some other charity project like that.”
It took five years of work and the equivalent of 62.5 million euros to build these twin towers.
Their destruction required 3,700 kilos of explosives, the evacuation of 5,000 residents of the surrounding buildings and the care of stray dogs around the area, details the Times of India. The huge cloud of dust dissipated in about two hours. “Nearly 400 people, 100 water tankers and sprinklers, 22 smoke cannons, and six street cleaning machines were immediately deployed to clear the area.”
The control of compliance with real estate standards will be reinforced, affirmed to the Hindustan Times Ishtiyaq Ahmed, Chief Architect and Urban Planning Director of Noida City.
“The criminal construction of these towers was the result of an ‘abject agreement’ between certain city officials and the developer.”