The deadline to clear the debris from the twin towers’ demolition site in Sector 93A elapsed on November 28, but only 5,000 of the 28,000 tonnes of rubble has, so far, been transported to the construction and demolition (C&D) processing centre in Sector 80.
Officials attribute the delay in clearing all the debris to various reasons, including the implementation of the graded response action plan (GRAP) to contain pollution to non-payment of fees for processing the rubble by the developer, Supertech.
On the orders of the Supreme Court, the twin towers — Apex (32 floors) and Ceyane (29 floors) — were demolished by Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering on August 28, leaving behind 80,000 tonnes of debris. The SC had fixed three months for removing the debris from the site.
As per the debris management plan, over 48,000 of the 80,000 tonnes are to be used to fill the basement and surroundings, while 28,000 tonnes are to be sent to the C&D plant for processing. Over 4,000 tonnes of steel and iron bars expected to be retrieved during the segregation process, would be sold by Edifice to recover a part of the demolition cost.
Now even as the demolition agency says it will take another month and a half (approx) to clear the debris from the site, residents of two societies living in the vicinity of the demolished structures complain of continuous dust and noise pollution. They allege that they are not getting any support from the Noida Authority. Moreover, they fear the spread of dengue and malaria due to water stagnation at several places as a result of water sprinklers being used to settle dust.
Indrajeet Kaur, a resident of Emerald Court’s Aster 2 tower, which is closest to the demolition site, said, “I live on the second floor, so face the dust and noise issue the most. No one cares about our problems. We have been living in high decibel noise for the past several months.”
“Earlier, there used to be noise for preparing the buildings for demolition, now it is for extracting iron rods. This work goes on for 12 hours a day, so one can imagine the condition of the residents. Our pathway has been broken for the past one year and we don’t know when it will be constructed again.”
UBS Teotia, the society’s RWA president, said, “Our requests and written complaints have not mustered any response from the Authority officials. They said they would hold a meeting with stakeholders, but nothing came out of it. The developer is also non-responsive.” Mayur Mehta, project manager, Edifice Engineering, said, “The deadline was November-end, but the work remained suspended for almost one month due to GRAP regulations. We are trying to complete the work by January 15.”
Mukesh Dhiman, project head, Re Sustainability Ltd (formerly Ramky Reclamation and Recycling Pvt Ltd), which runs the C&D plant, told that about 5,000 tonnes of debris have been processed at the plant so far. “The work has been halted for over 20 days due to payment issues. So far, we have made 20,000 tiles out of the debris.”
Supertech officials refused to comment on the matter. Noida’s general manager (planning) Ishtiyaq Ahmed could not be contacted, despite repeated attempts.
