By Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah
- One person was killed, vehicles were crushed, and operations at Delhi’s domestic T1 terminal—one of the busiest in the country—were suspended indefinitely when a portion of the roof and pillars outside the departure area fell due to above-average rainfall.
- The fall adds to an increasing number of infrastructure-related disasters that have occurred in the previous year, prompting lawmakers from opposition parties and experts to raise concerns about the dangers of loose regulations and the accelerated completion of projects.
- “Quality shouldn’t be sacrificed in the name of speed,” independent aviation expert Ameya Joshi said. Noting that the Delhi roof that fell was an older construction, he also asked for measures to examine existing infrastructure.
Modi has made significant bets on infrastructure development for years
- The Indian government and business sector want to invest $12 billion in the construction of new airports and the expansion of current ones to make air travel as accessible and reasonably priced as the nation’s extensive train system.
- This is a component of Modi’s larger, $1 trillion infrastructure drive across the nation, which has served as the mainstay of his proposal to strengthen India’s economy and create more employment.
- One of Modi’s goals is to make India a competitor to major aviation hubs like Singapore and Dubai.
- India’s operating airport count has almost quadrupled to 140 since Modi took office in 2014, and the government intends to raise this number to 220 by the end of the decade.
- Modi said in a video titled “Revolutionizing Airports” that he had spent $553 million upgrading Delhi T1, even though the collapsed roof was not included in that expense. The film also stated the number of other new terminals that had been constructed, including one in Jabalpur, central India.
- Posts on social media earlier this week revealed that following intense rains, a portion of the canopy at the Jabalpur airport in Madhya Pradesh also fell. In March, Modi gave the $50 million new structure its official opening.
- A Himalayan tunnel that was being built collapsed last year, trapping 41 workers for 17 days and casting doubt on the building method. The highway project, worth $1.5 billion, includes the tunnel.
- Following heavy rains on Friday, an underpass in Delhi close to the location of the G20 meeting became flooded.
President of the major opposition party in India, Mallikarjun Kharge
- After the ceiling of the Delhi terminal collapsed, the Congress party said on X that “in the past 10 years of Modi Govt, shoddy infrastructure (was) falling like a deck of cards.”
- Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, India’s minister of aviation, said on Friday that Modi was keeping a close eye on the situation at the Delhi airport and that the government will hire specialists to do a “thorough examination of the terminal’s structure” to guarantee safety. He indicated that a probe into the collapse has been mandated.
- Research director at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy Arghya Sengupta said on X that “every airport in the country must undergo an immediate safety inspection and a periodic review cycle should be set up.”
Source:
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