Hyderabad: Three people were injured on Monday when the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation carried out the blasting of an illegal building at Guttala Begumpet using the new ‘implosion’ technology. The three were labourers residing in the neighbourhood who were not alerted about the explosion.
This was the second attempt to demolish the illegal structure and though the lower floors collapsed, the top floor is still leaning at a dangerous angle. The GHMC and Uttam Blastech, a private firm, carried out the implosion on Monday. The remnants of the dangerously-leaning building will now have to be demolished manually.
The GHMC, though, has announced that this second attempt was a success, and did not mention the injured people. The injured labourers are Kashi Ram, Rajaamma and Lingamma, natives of Mahabubnagar district. The trio had returned from work and were passing through the building to reach their home when the explosion occurred.
There was no signal or whistle sounded to alert passers-by that the building was to be demolished. The injuries were caused by flying concrete chunks hitting them with immense force. They were treated at a nearby hospital.
GHMC Commissioner Dr B Janardhan Reddy said the second attempt is considered a success because “There was no damage to the neighbouring building which is less than one metre away. A 33KV main power line carrying power to Miyapur was live, while the building was imploded and there was no damage to the power line also. As per the technical experts, the ground vibrations and noise arising out of the implosion were measured.
Noise resulting from the implosion as measured in the neighbouring building was 114.8 decibels. Maximum ground vibrations were 1.5 mm/sec, which is much less than the permissible limits.” Experts, however, don’t consider it a success unless the entire building crumbles. N.V. Ramana from the civil engineering department of JNTU, who inspected the building, says the GHMC’s main concern was that the adjacent building wasn’t damaged and to avoid flying debris and reduce the intensity of explosives. “They should improve the technology. More meticulous planning is needed,” he said.
V Srikanth of Uttam Blastech said the parts of the building that carried the charge collapsed. “The top level was not charged keeping in mind the safety of the neighbouring building. The floor on which the explosives were drilled, crashed into dust and debris. Removal of the remaining is not the firm's responsibility.”
