Chennai: The concrete jaw cutter attached to the giant hydraulic crawler hit the fire ravaged Chennai Silks building on Friday morning around 11 am, beginning the demolition of the seven-storied building. It was a delayed start by at least 18 hours. Officials had earlier announced that demolition would begin by 4 pm on Thursday.
A portion of the building had come crashing down early Thursday morning after the building was on fire for 24 hours. Speaking to DC, the contractor hired for the project, said that the process was delayed as a ramp of debris had to be set up first for the crawler machines to reach the height of the top floor. He said the demolition work would take about 3-4 days.
Corporation officials were on it since Thursday evening with over 60 trucks ferrying construction debris to the site from all zones.
"The building is about 30 metres high. Our machinery's maximum limit is 24 metres. So, a ramp has to be created first as the building will be razed down from the top," S Durai, the city-based contractor hired by the Chennai Corporation for the demolition works said. The team had previously worked on the demolition of structures in the Ripon buildings and in the initial phase of the demolition of one of the ill-fated twin towers in Moulivakkam.
According to the contractors, the demolition works would take about 3-4 days. Six concrete jaw cutters were brought to the site by the time work began on Friday morning. "Six more machines will reach the site by night," Durai added. Instructions were clear from the authorities to observe safety standards at all times, say, supervisors. The work was delayed for an hour during noon, as the ramp created didn't sit in properly. Fire tenders were also deployed on the scene as water had to be sprayed on the debris as the building is demolished to prevent the dust from spreading to nearby buildings.
