A 27-year-old chimney at the Tata Steel plant in Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur was demolished on Sunday. The chimney – 110 metres high – was safely demolished in just 11 seconds and the company tweeted a video of the process, underlining that it had been carried out in a safe, controlled and environmentally friendly manner.
The video shows an explosion at the base of the chimney after which it falls slowly and neatly into a designated area. This was followed by the use of ‘water curtains’ to control the dust and ‘trenches with berms’ were also deployed to absorb vibration.
The use of ‘steel wraps’ ensured the debris did not scatter.
Tata Steel’s vice president Avneesh Gupta, said: “The 27-year-old 110-metre-high chimney of battery number 5 of the Jamshedpur plant was demolished using the implosion method, which made the demolition process safe for workers. It also saved time and was environment friendly too. The smoke tower was demolished within 11 seconds.”
The demolition task was carried out by South Africa’s Edifice Engineering India – the same company that reduced Noida’s twin towers to ashes. The towers, Apex (32 floors) and Ceyane (29 floors), were razed with explosives weighing at least 3,700 kg, in the biggest-ever planned tower demolition bid on August 28.
Gupta further said that the demolition was successful and did not cause any loss of lives. “Before the dropping down of this chimney, a 75-year-old, a repair shop of the coke plant of height 2 metres was demolished as rehearsal,” he added.
(With ANI inputs)
