Timeline: Long 9 years journey of Noida Twin Towers to fall into debris in 9 seconds

New Delhi: The 100-metre tall twin towers at Noida built by Supertech will be demolished within just a few hours as the company had built them illegally. Reportedly, the concerned twin towers are set to get demolished at 2:30 PM on August 28 by officials of Edifice Engineering, the company that got the contract to do the job. These two towers namely Apex and Ceyanne will be demolished to debris in just nine seconds. It took nine years for the residents to fight for their rights and ultimately win them over, however, their all efforts will vanish in dust within seconds.

Below is the timeline of the entire Supertech Twin Tower demolition case:

• November 2004: A plot of land was allotted to realty firm Supertech Ltd. in Sector 93A by the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) to construct a housing complex, which came to be known as Emerald Court.
• 2005: The plan to construct the building got sanctioned under the New Okhla Industrial Development Area Building Regulations and Directions, 1986. The builder gets permission to construct a total of 14 towers with ten floors each within a height of 37 metres.
• June 2006: Supertech gets extra land allotted for construction under the same conditions.
• November 2009: Plan was revised to include two more towers in the society. The construction of Apex and Ceyanne began and the twin towers were set to have 24 floors each.
• March 2012: The total number of floors in Apex and Ceyanne was increased to 40 each, as against the original plan. However, Supertech argued that this was under the 2010 Noida building regulations.
• December 2012: The Emerald Court Owners Residents Welfare Association moves to Allahabad High Court. The members of the association claimed that the towers violated the UP Apartment Owners Act, 2010 which mandates the sanction of homebuyers for any change in the plan. Besides, the members claimed that the twin towers were constructed in an area marked as a garden in the original brochure. Further, they tell the courts that the towers were constructed at a distance of less than 16 metres between them, which again violated the mandate.

• April 2014: Allahabad High Court orders demolition of twin towers. It also asked Supertech to refund the money to all the homebuyers with 14% interest. The court further observed that the officials of Noida Authority collaborated with Supertech to construct the tower. The twin towers have been sealed.
• August 31, 2021: Supreme Court declines Supertech’s plea to overturn the high court order and takes into account the order of 2014. Twin Towers were asked to be demolished within three months. Despite this year, the demolition got delayed by a year.
• February 2022: Noida authorities inform SC that the preparation for the demolition of SuperTech Twin towers has begun and will be achieved by May 22.
• May 17, 2022: SC extends the deadline to demolish the Supertech Twin towers and makes it August 28.
• August 12: SC extends the deadline again till September 4. However, the demolition company Edifice Engineering says the Noida twin towers will be demolished on August 28 itself.