With elevators in towers dismantled and power link removed, 10 blasters have been walking up 32 floors daily to check out the chargesNOIDA: It’s a tall order, literally, for the 10-member squad of blasters at the Supertech twin towers, which will be razed on August 28. With elevators in both towers dismantled and power connections removed, these 10 personnel have been walking up 32 floors – to the topmost level of Apex – and walking back down at least once daily since loading of explosives was completed on August 22. They will have to keep doing it till the day of the demolition because all charges need to be connected to each other, and once that is done, checked and rechecked. The exercise starts early in the morning and goes on till noon, also covering Ceyane, which has a walkway link with Apex. The checks are needed because all it takes is a bird to undo a circuit. The synchronised charges are to be set off over nine seconds from bottom to top, which will bring the buildings down in a stack. This is the most critical aspect of the demolition because several buildings are right next to the twin towers – three in Emerald Court and four in ATS Greens Village. The demolition team is led by 62-year-old Joe Brinkmann, the demolition project’s ‘master blaster’. 20k connections to be checked daily: Demolition teamThe demolition team for Supertech’s twin towers is led by 62-year-old Joe Brinkmann, the demolition project’s ‘master blaster’ and founder and director of Jet Demolition, the South African company that’s handling the blast design and logistics. There are six other experts from Jet, an Indian blaster, his assistant and the project manager from Edifice Engineering, the company tasked with the demolition job. Kevin Smit, senior site manager from Jet Demolition, told TOI on Wednesday, “Along with connecting explosives planted in over 9,400 holes in columns, the team checks that no connection has been unconfigured overnight. This can be done by a single bird.” Smit shrugged off the climb. “This is nothing,” he said. “We have done this multiple times in a day as well. Elevators took about 17 minutes to reach the top. I can climb faster than that,” he added, nonchalantly. Mayur Mehta, the Edifice manager who is with this team, said, “Checking every connection meticulously takes time. The team climbs all the way to the 32nd floor and does the checks floor by floor while coming down. There are more than 20,000 connections.” The team will make its final trek to the summit of Apex on August 28 morning. Once the checks are done, the circuit will be connected to a detonator kept 100 metre from the blast site. Only six personnel will be present when the trigger is pressed – the ‘master blaster’ and two other experts from Jet, an Edifice official, the Indian blaster and a police officer. To avoid exhaustion, the team stays hydrated with water and soft drinks. “During preparation days, we made it a point that every floor had several water coolers and soft drinks. There were workers whose job was just to serve others,” said Mehta. Brinkman – “uncle Joe” to colleagues – is the fittest in the team. Smit, who is in his early 30s, said he makes it a point not to climb the stairs with Brinkmann “as I’d be panting by the time I reach the top while uncle Joe is calm and composed”. “It’s a good workout,” Brinkmann told TOI. “By the time we reach the top, we all are sweating. Water helps a lot. Once you start doing it regularly, the body gets acclimatised,” he added. The other Jet officials in the team are Marthinus Botha, the chief safety officer and blast coordinator, Nolan Kleynhans (site manager), Elies Ntshidr (site technician), Petrus Mathebula (expert) and Ian Ehlers (site manager). Ehlers is the second in command after Smit and assists with the programme. He does assessments and quality checks of material. Kleynhans helps with drilling and ensures they are up to standard. Ntshidr supervised the demolition of the pathway between the twin towers and other buildings of Emerald Court. He is a mechanical expert and advises on machines to be used. The Indian blaster is Chetan Dutta from Hisar. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebookTwitterInstagramKOO APPYOUTUBE
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/noida-before-twin-towers-fall-a-daily-trek-up-32-floors-for-blasters/articleshow/93763419.cms