A view of the T1 terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, where a portion of the roof collapsed resulting in the death of one person and injury of several others, in New Delhi on June 28, 2024
| Photo Credit: ANI
The roof collapse at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport on June 28 prompted Opposition party leaders to hit out at the government for poor quality of infrastructure, for which they also blamed “corruption” as well as “ribbon-cutting ceremonies” before elections.
“Corruption and criminal negligence is responsible for the collapse of shoddy infrastructure falling like a deck of cards, in the past 10 years of Modi Govt,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on X. He cited various incidents, including roof collapse at Jabalpur airport this week, water leakage at Ram Mandir and potholes on the roads leading up to it following rains, cracks in Mumbai Trans Harbour Link road, 13 new bridges falling down in Bihar in 2023 and 2024, the newly built tunnel near Pragati Maidan in the national capital submerging, as well as the Mobri bridge collapse tragedy in Gujarat in 2022.
The canopy of the forecourt that collapsed is outside the Terminal 1 building at IGI, which was inaugurated in March by Prime Minister after undergoing renovation work since 2019 for bringing both arrivals and departures under one roof. Referring to this inauguration, Mr. Kharge said the government was indulging in “ribbon-cutting ceremonies before elections” and called it “corrupt and inept”. Minister for Civil Aviation Rammohan Naidu as well as the GMR-owned airport explained that the canopy itself was constructed in 2008-2009.
Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said “the common man is helpless because the government is working for big industrialists and contractors” resulting in flaws across road, rail and airport infrastructure.
Communist Party of India leader D. Raja said on X, “Infrastructure development has to be people-centric and sustainable but Modi made it photo-centric. BJP and PM Modi’s obsession with inauguration and claiming credit is creating hardships for the people. Poor quality infrastructure has also exposed rampant corruption.”