Hyderabad: Demolition of fire-hit building begins

The process of pulling down the unstable structure picked-up pace at around 10.30 pm on Thursday.

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) started the process of demolition of the fire-hit commercial complex at Minister’s road on Thursday night.

The process of pulling down the unstable structure picked-up pace at around 10.30 pm. The special crane roped-in for demolition can reach up to eight floors and is equipped with water sprinkler facility that will enable authorities to control minor fires in case they reignite, GHMC officials said.

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The structure will be pulled down without much human intervention and the plan is ensure no one from the demolition team goes inside the building. The demolition will start from the fifth floor and gradually we will come down to the lower floors,” the senior GHMC official said.

The demolition will be completed in approximately five days. “Though the structure will be pulled down in approximately five days, the entire process of transportation of debris and cleaning will take over 10 days,” he said.

The demolition of the Deccan Knitwear Sports Accessories building was scheduled to start on Thursday morning but got delayed as the machinery, especially the long breaker crane, had to be replaced with equipment of heavier capacity. As a result, the GHMC authorities had to cancel the demolition contract that was given to an earlier agency and later managed to award the contract to a new agency for the same price.

There was further delay in demolition when minor fire got reignited in the ground floor of the building on Thursday afternoon and evening, forcing authorities to call for fire fighters who managed to control the situation quickly.

“After careful examination of the crane, we took a decision that, better equipment was required and made sure another crane reaches the demolition site on the same day,” said a GHMC official.

Before starting the demolition, the GHMC authorities took several precautions including the removal of the high tension electric wires that were located near the demolition site and fixing of high-focus lights to ensure workers can have better visibility, in case they have to work at night.

The families residing in the close proximity to the commercial complex were also shifted to the rehabilitation center set up by Hyderabad Collectorate. Authorities also created a buffer zone and police personnel were deployed to make sure people don’t venture near the building that was engulfed in the massive fire on January 19.

Officials of Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services, GHMC, Police and other State government departments monitored the demolition process. The demolition site was also inspected by Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav on Thursday.