Supertech will repair 10 additional damaged pillars in the basement of buildings at Emerald Court that are within 50 metres of the twin towers. This will take the number of such pillars to be repaired to 50.
The developer will not conduct any separate structural audit of the buildings of its own but rely on the report of the private consultant that was hired by the Emerald Court RWA earlier this year to assess the damage to the columns.
RWA members said they were okay with Supertech’s plan, pointing out that it would serve the immediate purpose of safeguarding the nearest residential buildings from the effect of the vibrations of the final blast.
Officials confirmed they had on Sunday submitted before the CBRI the structural audit report prepared by the private firm. At the last Supreme Court hearing, the IRP representing Supertech had said that the final structural audit report for three buildings nearest to the twin towers would be submitted to the CBRI and damage, if any, would be fixed by August 25.
“A contractor has already been engaged by Supertech and they have been carrying out repair work at the basement. Initially, 40 critical columns were selected for repair. And now, 10 have been added. Most of these columns are in Aspire 1, and Aster 2 and 3, which are nearest to the twin towers,” said UBS Teotia, the Emerald Court RWA president.
According to the audit report by Delhi-based D&R Consultants, which had been hired by the RWA, the strength of several pillars in the basements is between M-8 and 13. The structural drawings, however, say that the design of the basement columns should be of M-15 grade concrete (M stands for “concrete mix” in the Indian standard concrete grade).
“As far as the structural audit of the entire society is concerned, it is not connected with the twin towers’ demolition. We plan to take up this matter with the Noida Authority and the state government separately,” Teotia told TOI.
Edifice Engineering, the company that will bring down the towers, will pay Rs 3 lakh to Emerald Court and Rs 3.2 lakh to ATS Village for covering the green and common areas from the dust and debris.
“Edifice will pay us the amount. We will cover the green area and parks with plastic and tarpaulin sheets,” Teotia said.
The charging of the twin towers, meanwhile, continued as planned. Edifice officials said the team mainly worked on the Ceyane tower on Monday, completing the planting of explosives from the top floor to the eighth.
“We will now be charging the entire Ceyane tower before shifting to Apex. The teams have so far charged five primary and six secondary floors (of both the towers), while the work on the sixth floor has been initiated,” said Mayur Mehta, project manager at Edifice Engineering.
Mehta said that floors 28, 24, 20, 16, 12 and 8 were the secondary blast floors that had already been charged while the primary blast floors fitted with explosives were 26, 22, 18, 14 and 10.
While one team is engaged in the charging process, another has been wrapping the nearby buildings of ATS Village and Emerald Court with geotextile fabric. The geotextile curtains are hanging from the buildings now, while the final stitching and fixing will be done two days before the demolition.
A meeting of all stakeholders is likely to take place at the Noida Authority office on Thursday to assess the progress of the preparations.
