NOIDA Twin Towers were razed to the ground (Twin Towers implosion) following a technique known as ‘waterfall implosion’ or the ‘water implosion’ that is effective when experts require that a structure collapses inwards and onto itself. Often used in urban settings, in preparation of such a collapse, engineers strategically remove the supporting structures of building so that it goes down layer after layer in a vertical wave.

As a resident of a society barely 300 metres away from the ill-fated Apex and Ceyane Towers in Noida, I can tell you that even though the implosion of these Supertech twin towers was ‘controlled’, its rubble is likely to remain unruly. Since a couple of days, our society’s WhatsApp groups, personal chats and phone calls have mostly spoken of the likely aftermaths as we passed by these doomed buildings off and during our routine visits in and out of our houses days before the implosion, which I witnessed and lived through first hand, my conscience won’t allow me to rest. The ongoing discourses on how the controlled collapse, symbolic of justice against corruption, would be an engineering feat backed up by adequate preparation to check aftermaths, were not enough to convince my wandering mind. In the face of the garlanded freedom conferred upon perpetrators of violence against BilkisBano, I constantly drew parallels between other tangible and intangible entities that have already crumbled down and collapsed onto Indian society and polity.

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Development and real estate related corrupt practices, lack of justice for women, non-transparency in governance, greedy officials in public as well as private sector have made us citizens collectively witness and live through the downfall of ethics in India. The ethics that is a guiding force of transparency, justice, democracy and human rights has been one of the most sacred values that have imploded inwards in our country.

Being a direct witness to and living through ethical, economic, structural, physical or infrastructural collapse is one of the most challenging situations to be in. The demolition of the Apex and Ceyane Towers in Sector 93-A of NOIDA for all that it signifies has been no different. However, the scale of anxiety and worry that those of us living in the vicinity of the Supertech Towers have gone through has been certainly different from distance and desk-based analysis of the implosion.

Amidst our acute worries about the health implications and other possible damages to property that such an action in our proximity could cause, we also shared views on the long overdue finale, the countdown of which actually became a national event. Indians witnessed live multi-media coverage on the razing of the Apex and Ceyane Towers on August 28, 2022 at 14:30 hrs in the afternoon.

Switch off appliances and disconnect them from the sockets, cover washing machines and ACs and cars, do not step out, close all doors and windows, make your paintings and wall-mounted objects safe, be on-your-guard for protecting the frail and vulnerable members of your families or simply evacuate, relocate, gatecrash on friends and relatives. In other words, the instructions flying around for our welfare required us to momentarily disappear form the scenario as if we never existed near the twin towers! Amidst this minimisation of our existences, we were confused about the use of our cooking appliances, actual aftershocks and the residual pollution levels that we may face.Anxious relatives and friends extended their sympathies and empathies, and yet, we felt somewhat alone in our prolonged agony-filled pre-implosion preparations.

During the water implosion, we were advised to keep our gas-pipelines switched off for two hours to avoid any risk. On the D-Day, I parked the car underground, and took a last picture of the site of implosion as visible from our boundary wall, an hour before the twin towers were razed to the ground. I kept repeating to myself, ‘It would last only seven to nine seconds’, as promised by the experts and the authorities. Twenty-five minutes past two in the afternoon of August 28, 2022and exactly five minutes before the implosion, I managed to serve a warm soup to my twins. As we begun sipping the comforting concoction and started a deceptive conversation about flavours and aromas, as if all were normal, we experienced six to seven frightening tremors.

Simultaneously, came the sound of implosions while the floor beneath us trembled left and right scarily. Searching stability, we turned our attention to the walls and these too, let us down through their dazed sway. We registered lingering vibrations of differing intensities and the cluttering of windowpanes outside. Just as we thought, ‘well it’s done and dusted with’, the bric-a-bracbegan to shout out from their fragile existences and made silly sounds on the display shelves of our seventh floor apartment. Wearing a wet mask, I stepped out on my balcony for a split second to analyse the scenario and encountered a smoky, smoggy sky all around besides an overpowering residual smell.

A part of the Emerald Court Project at Sector 93A, the realty firm Supertech’s twin towers which are now only but a rubble, were constructed on land allotted and permission granted by Noida Authority. Elaborative actions and adequate security arrangements were taken to make the dreaded yet much-awaited demolition of the two buildings safe, especially for residents of societies such as the Emerald Court, the ATS Village and Parsavnath Prestige I and II, Utopia and Eldecco as these are situated within a distance of 9 metres to 400 metres implosion site. Needless, to say, the controlled implosion is a lesson and hopefully, would be deterrence for corrupt real estate violators of building byelaws and norms in India.

Yet, the monies that it brought into play, the dreams that it destroyed and the trust of buyers that Supertetch razed to ground by its nefarious deeds will extend much beyond the illusive seven to nine seconds of destruction. Who is answerable and how many impacts and aftermaths will/can the experts rectify? What of the material costs and memories that this controlled-implosion has created for our residential societies, the preparations around the event that we collectively experienced? The repercussions, apprehensions and fears we now carry of this embodied experience will continue to live with us for a long time to come.

Nonetheless, we were happy to be safe. Soon enough, and on a note of reassurance, our intercom rang and I was informed around 7 pm that an Amazon delivery agent awaited my approval for entry. Life seemed to have returned to normalcy except that our doors and windows were still closed, lest the contaminated rubble-dust ridden air barges in. I look into the ‘not-so-clear skies’ from my apartment and wonder many more years will India take to fathom the importance of ethics towards ensuring a corruption free and just society?

The Supreme Court on August 31, 2021, ordered the demolition of the twin towers for violating building norms in “collusion” with Noida officials. The top court held that the illegal construction has to be dealt with strictly to ensure compliance with the rule of law. A good beginning seems to have been made by the Supreme Court’s orders for its unwavering stance on demolition as it may foretell deterrence on real estate corruption as much as it voices a concern for protecting consumers from deceptive projects. However, it took eight long years and a good run from pillar to post for all those who suffered the housing fraud to achieve a sense of relief and collective justice. I argue that every collective fraud and all macro situations of loss, deception and abuse entail layered and micro – contexts of personal loss and infringements of justice just as individual denials of justice encapsulate immediate clues on what is ethically and physically improper in our societies collectively.

For instance, the court order and the subsequent demolition of the twin towers in NOIDA may come across as collective justice. Yet, the implosion per se will neither rectify the financial losses that people suffered in their everyday times and spaces nor bring back the hopes and faith of individuals and families who invested in chasing dreams that Supertech spinned out for them deceptively.

Next, let’s give a thought to the individual case of Bilkis Bano’s suffering and the long road to justice that terminated for her in a dead-end occupied by eleven upper-caste ‘sanskari’ criminals garlanded and set free on India’s seventy-fifth Independence Day on August 15, 2022. The aftermath of the uncalled-for remission of criminals is not just individual or momentary. Insidiously, it makes the whole case of women’s rights, equity and justice in India crash to the ground, whatever the justification of such an act may be.
Will our individual Bilkis Bano have the strength to ever emerge from the shadows of insecurity and violence which Atam Nirbhar Bharat has thrown her once again into?

Who will speak for the countless other Bilkis Banos existing in silence in India? Rising voices in protest against the remission indicates a restlessness, which no engineering feat may curb with the press of a button. Corruption and demolition of justice in a country is not a tame waterfall implosion, rather it spreads in as well as around in a domino effect. Besides, the cost of silence over corruption has mammoth implications for the rule of law, women and children, human rights and democracy. According to Transparency. org, ‘corruption erodes trust, weakens democracy, hampers economic development and further exacerbates inequality, vulnerability, poverty, social division and the environmental crisis. Exposing corruption and holding the corrupt to account can only happen if we understand the way corruption works and the systems that enable it.’

(Dr. Luthra Sinha is the Lead Researcher for projects and ideation on human rights, sustainable development, resilience, environmental Justice and Women’s Rights in India. )