The demolition of the seven-storied Chennai Silks building was briefly disrupted on Wednesday evening as a small portion of the fire-ravaged structure fell on the jaw cutter machine.
Around 5 p.m., when the jaw cutter machine was carrying out the demolition work, a portion of the slab fell on it, snapping a cable. “The work was stopped for about 15-20 minutes after which it resumed. Only the cable of the machine had to be replaced and there was no major damage,” one of the workers on site said.
The work continued till about 6.30 p.m. and will resume again on Thursday at 7 a.m., workers said. They said, about 40% of work has been completed and the demolition will be over in three days.
“No additional construction debris and water tankers were needed today; we could make do with what we had so far,” he added.
On 31 May, a huge fire broke out in the building and a day later, four floors of the building collapsed. Following that, several truck loads of construction debris was brought in and the machine was mounted on top of it to enable demolition from the top floor. About one million litres of water is estimated to have been sent for the fire fighting operations.
