Residents of Noida's Emerald Court housing society have planned a celebratory get-together today to mark their legal victory against the realtor, Supertech, and the demolition of the twin towers yesterday. NDTV spoke to Aarti Kappula, a member of the resident welfare association of the housing society in Noida's Sector 93A, this morning.
Asked if there is a plan to celebrate the win in the nine-year legal battle at the end of which the towers were razed on the ground of illegality, Ms Kappula said, "Absolutely, we have planned it this evening. We are going to get together for a while. The battle is won for sure. It's an example for the entire country."
The demolition done, the next challenge for the Noida administration is to ensure that the mountain of debris left behind is cleared at the earliest.
Visuals from the site today showed cleaners at work, scraping the layer of dust from the ground near the site where the twin towers stood till 2.30 pm yesterday.
Officials involved with the operation had earlier said about 55,000 tonnes of debris would be generated. It may take as many as three months to clear the debris. The waste will be dumped at designated areas.
Residents of the society had moved court, contending that the realtor Supertech built the twin towers in an area that was to be made into a garden in the original building plan. They argued that the realtor violated norms to sell more flats and enhance profit margins.
The realtor later modified the building plan to include two more towers with 24 floors. This was approved by the authorities. A later plan, increasing the number of floors to 40 was also cleared.
The matter reached the Supreme Court, which found that the realtor violated building norms in collusion with Noida authorities. The court last year ordered the demolition of the two towers at the realtor's expense.
