Telangana government mulls implosion technique to raze Secretariat

Hyderabad: The demolition work on the old secretariat building, which is likely to begin later this month, will see 'zero-man' intervention. The demolition work will be done with state of the art technology.

The authorities are making arrangements for the procurement of extensive machinery to raze the old structures. Even when it comes to the removal of debris, the government will use machinery. Sources said that the government does not want manual intervention in the works for two reasons. One -- availability of labour is difficult and secondly the surging corona pandemic under the GHMC limits. The government feels the use of labour could be a risky affair.

The technical committee on the demolition of the secretariat buildings headed by state Roads and Building department A Ganpath Reddy has suggested the implosion technique to flatten the building structures. Under the technology, controlled blasting will be performed to demolish the structures.

The explosives will be placed at one place of the building and the timing of the blast would be fixed. The building will collapse within seconds. Necessary safety measures are being made to ensure that there are no loud sounds of the blasting which could cause inconvenience to the people living around the secretariat and damage buildings outside the complex like Mint Compound, etc, which are much older than the buildings that would be demolished. There are 10 blocks in the sprawling 27-acre land.

Officials said that the R&B department was studying various technologies to shifting the debris.

The separation of iron and the concrete from the debris is one of the heavy works which requires technical expertise. US and UAE-based construction agencies use advanced technology for the speedy disposal of the debris from the spot. This model is also being examined, sources said. The government is keen to see that the process of demolition of the buildings and shifting of the debris was completed in just two months. Demolition part is likely to cost Rs 50 crore to Rs 70 crore.