Supertech twin tower: Meet the men who will carry out India’s largest demolition

The towers, taller than Qutub Minar in the national capital, include Apex (32 storeys) and Ceyane (29 storeys), which are part of the Emerald Court, were found to be in violation of multiple regulations regarding construction following which a long legal battle was fought in the Allahabad High Court and then the Supreme Court of India which culminated in favour of the Residents Welfare Association. Mayur Mehta, project manager, Edifice Engineering, said, “We have one of the best teams in the world working on this project. They work hard and play harder.”

Mehta’s Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering has been tasked with safely pulling down the structures. Edifice has roped in South African experts Jet Demolitions for the project.

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Here are individuals who will carry out the demolition of Noida’s twin towers:

As reported by Hindustan Times, a group of seven people from South African firm Jet Demolitions along with Edifice Engineering will implode the twin towers in a feat of its own sorts.

62-year-old Robert Brinkkman who is also known as Uncle Joe will be the brain behind entire operation. “There is no book on demolition and there are no courses. It’s all in his mind; his personal intellectual property,” says Uttkarsh Mehta, partner, Edifice Engineering to HT. Every single one of the 9,462 holes drilled into the twin towers, their purpose, location, and size, down to the millimetre, was decided by Brinkkman. “I have the best job in the world,” he says. “Every boy loves to break things and I turned that love into my passion.”

Smit a civil engineer found his passion when he watched a petrochemical plant was demolished. “I found myself looking at it for two whole hours, completely enthralled. I had found my love. I looked up who executed the demolition and sent a mail to Jet seeking an interview the same day. Three days later, I joined Jet,” he said in an interaction with HT.

Marthinus Botha, who is the the chief safety officer and blast coordinator, has the responsibility of ensuring safety at demolition sites.

Ian Ehlers is tasked with the responsibility of planning, scheduling and detailing that needsto be done before execution of such demilition projects.

Elias Nthidi is the person who is known to operate any demolition machine in the world.

Nolan Kleynhans is tasked with the responsibility of wrapping up the structures with geotextile fabric”, so as to contain the blast and stop flyaway debris.

Chetan Dutta, a 49-year-old blaster, “prayed” for the opportunity to press the button to bring down the nearly 100-metre-tall structures. And, a year later on August 28, Dutta will press the button to commence the demolition. “It’s like a dream come true,” says Dutta, who hails from Hisar in Haryana. He was approached by Edifice Engineering, which has been tasked with demolishing the towers, to act as a blaster.

“When the Supreme Court’s decision came, someone forwarded a message (about it) on WhatsApp and I prayed to God that I should be given an opportunity to demolish the building. I did not expect to be chosen though…months later, in July, Edifice approached me and my firm for the loading of explosives,” said Dutta, who runs a firm that is involved in building demolition.

“In the last 10 days, we have very carefully loaded the explosives. We are ready now…,” he added.

Uttkarsh Mehta and Jigar Chheda, are the men who are anchoring the biggest demolition project . “Uttkarsh is the face of Edifice. He gets the business and takes it forward. He handles all coordination with the clients and authorities. He is our marketing man. He knows how to talk and what to say, how much to say and to whom. I can’t do that,” says Chheda, the backstage man of the team, who proudly declares that he is not even an engineer while interacting with HT.

*With inputs from HT

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