"Antim darshan" of Noida twin towers before demolition

Noida: It's a midnight like no other for Noida's Sector 93-A as the countdown began for the court-mandated implosion of Supertech's twin towers.

There was excitement and anticipation as several people, including families and children, gathered at the site on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, clicking selfies and taking videos of the two towers.

Dabur's head of media Rajiv Dubey called it "antim darshan" (lying in state) of twin towers in his Facebook post.

The nearly 100-metre tall towers are set to be safely demolished at 2.30 pm on Sunday in pursuance of a Supreme Court order that found their construction within the Emerald Court society premises in violation of building norms.

While the twin towers have remained out-of-bounds for the past several days, during which it was charged with 3,700 kg of explosive, locals thronged the site at midnight to take a final look at the structures before they are pulled down and consigned to chapters in history books.

The excitement among children was palpable even as police and security personnel remained deployed at the site in Sector 93A since Saturday evening.

When prodded by her father, a drowsy-looking Riya said she had come to see the twin towers for one last time.

"There will be a blast here in the day, I have been told," the girl, around 6, said as she lugged around her father while her excited mother took pictures of the skeletal structures behind them on her mobile phone.

She denied she was feeling sleepy. But her eyes gave it away.

Hilal Ahmed, who lives in Sector 110, was also there with his family and relatives. He said they had mixed feelings about the event.

"Not too happy, not too sad," he said. "There is of course risk to surrounding buildings. We are enjoying it here as it's the last day of the building." "It's also a message for builders that wrongdoings would be traced and tracked. The message is good," Ahmed, clad in a polo tshirt, said.

There were visitors from outside Noida too.

Agam Sharma, in early 20s, said he reached here from Yamuna Nagar, Haryana. He is staying with his relatives here.

"I had been watching it over news for last few days. Since police will not allow people to come close to the structures during demolition so this was the only opportunity to see it from the close quarters," said the beard-sporting Sharma.

The towers -- taller than Delhi's iconic Qutub Minar -- will be brought down in less than 15 seconds by waterfall implosion technique. They will be the tallest structures yet in India to be demolished, officials said.

"All arrangements have been made and preparations done for the safe demolition of the twin towers as per schedule at 2.30 pm tomorrow," Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari told PTI Saturday evening.  Around 5,000 residents of Emerald Court and adjoining ATS Village societies in Sector 93A have to vacate their premises by 7 am on Sunday while also removing nearly 3,000 vehicles and taking away 150-200 pets, including cats and dogs, with them for the day.

The closest building next to twin towers are Aster 2 and Aster 3 of Emerald Court society which are just nine metres away. The demolition would be done in a manner so as not to cause any structural damages to other buildings, the officials said.