It was over in under five minutes. Finally, there was closure for the people of Moulivakkam as the second of the twin towers was reduced to dust on Wednesday. The 11-storey apartment imploded, nearly surgically, at 6.50 p.m., over two hours after it was initially scheduled to come down.
It is likely that this kind of demolition — implosion of a 11-storey building — is a first in the city, officials said.
The officials announced the countdown at 6.48 p.m. Two minutes later, a flash of light was seen on the fifth floor and, with a single thunder clap, audible up to half-a-kilometre, the building crumbled, in a cloud of dust. Clearly, the actual demolition went as per plan. Unlike the preparatory process.
The building, on the Kundrathur Main Road in Moulivakkam, was ordered to be demolished by the Supreme Court, which upheld the Kancheepuram Collector’s order. On June 28, 2014, one of the two 11-storied residential project of Prime Sristi Housing, under construction at Moulivakkam, collapsed, killing 61 people, mostly construction workers. The demolition was to take place between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Officials said it had to be postponed due to the rains, and an unexpected delay in evacuating residents in the vicinity to safer places.
Published - November 02, 2016 11:10 pm IST
