The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday pinned the blame on the BJP-led Central government for the catastrophic roof collapse at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at the newly constructed Terminal 1.
Senior AAP leader Jasmine Shah alleged the tragic incident, which resulted in one death and multiple injuries, happened due to widespread corruption within the union administration.
AAP leaders demanded a CBI investigation into all central government infrastructure projects, alleging that the incident was more than an accident and labelled it a murder.
AAP pointed out and alleged that the BJP had recklessly inaugurated the unfinished terminal on March 10 for electoral gains, urging the Prime Minister to admit fault and apologise to the nation. Similar incidents, including a recent collapse at Jabalpur airport and numerous bridge failures in Bihar, were cited as evidence of the government’s negligent “donate and get work done” practices.
In a press conference at the party headquarters on Friday, Jasmine Shah said that the incident of the collapse of the roof was extremely unfortunate and sad.
All the airports across the country, including Delhi, come under the Airport Authority of India, an agency of the central government.
“In this tragic incident, one person lost his life and eight people are reported to be injured. The AAP has sympathy and condolences with all these aggrieved families. This is not an ordinary accident, but murder, because this is the same Terminal 1 which was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on March 10”, Shah said.
“It is a very serious matter that the Prime Minister inaugurated the Terminal 1 building on March 10 even before its construction was completed. As a result, its roof collapsed in the first monsoon rain on Friday”, he said.
Jasmine Shah further added that the BJP inaugurates incomplete infrastructure projects to take political advantage in the elections, even if it leads to people losing their lives, it does not matter to them. This is not the first incident. In the last two days, there have been two such major incidents of collapse of new terminals.
On Thursday, the roof of the newly built Jabalpur Domestic Airport Terminal also collapsed after the first rain.
“Many people were injured in this accident too. The Jabalpur terminal was also inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on March 10. The BJP government at the centre inaugurated all the incomplete projects before the announcement of elections. This is a very sad incident. The central government should give compensation of Rs 1 crore to the families of all the deceased and Rs 50 lakhs to the injured” he added.
The AAP leader stated that the biggest question is as to under what circumstances and to whom are new government infrastructure projects being given. He claimed full payment is made for these projects, but the work is half-finished and after a few days all their shortcomings come out.
Apart from this, the 21-km-long Atal Setu Bridge connecting Mumbai to Navi Mumbai, the bridge that was built at a cost of Rs 17,800 crore, was also inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi in January 2024. After only six months, huge cracks are appearing in it too.
“At the time of inauguration of a project, PM Modi and his ministers arrive to garner applause, but when shortcomings start coming out one by one, they are nowhere to be seen, they disappear. Dozens of bridges have collapsed in Bihar in the last one year. In the last one week only, four bridges have collapsed. A 70-metre bridge collapsed on Thursday in Kishanganj, Bihar”, he said while hitting out at the Centre.
Jasmine Shah further alleged “The Modi government has started a campaign of ‘Chanda Do, Dhanda Lo’ (Donate and Get Business) in the country. This is the reason why big scams are happening in these projects today. Big infrastructure projects are being given to anyone, there is no monitoring of it. This incident at the Delhi airport is extremely unfortunate”.
The AAP leader demanded that the central government and PM Modi apologise to the country and ‘accept their mistake’ that they inaugurated Terminal-1 in a rush.
“The only fault of the people who suffered in this accident was that they trusted the Central government that it had taken full care of the safety of the people. If this is the condition of the Delhi airport, then we can understand what will be the condition of other infrastructure projects of the central government going on in the country”, Jasmine Shah maintained.
“PM Modi and the BJP government should tell the country who is responsible for this accident? The BJP starts these infrastructure projects only to collect donations and to cut the ribbon and garner applause. It does not care about providing better facilities to the public”, Shah rued.