For the past two days, the opposition and even the people of India have multiple questions from the Modi Government after Delhi and Jabalpur Airport witnessed a roof collapse accident. On Friday, at least one person died and eight others were injured after a portion of the roof at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Airport Terminal-1 collapsed on cars.. All flight departures from the terminal were also temporarily suspended. A day before that, a portion of a canopy of the new terminal building of Jabalpur airport in Madhya Pradesh caved in and fell on a car after heavy rainfall. The damaged car belonged to an Income Tax official. No one was injured in the incident as the driver left after parking the vehicle in the porch outside the main gate of the terminal building. However, two accidents in two days at two different airports fueled the opposition's criticism. In fact, Congress leader said that Modi Ki Guarantee could not even last for 3 months by taking a jibe at Jabalpur Airport roof collapse.
Now, the question arises who are the contractors or which construction company is responsible for handling Delhi Airport and Jabalpur Airport?
As per reports, New Delhi-based construction company NKG Infrastructure received an order of Rs 165 crore from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in 2019 for the construction of a new airport terminal building in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, which was to be completed in the next 2 years. The airport was expanded at a cost of Rs 450 crore.
According to the website of NKG Infrastructure Company, this company has built AIIMS Rajkot, AIIMS Jharkhand, hospital in Karnal, New Terminal of Vijayawada Airport, Sports Injury Center of Safdarjung Hospital, Building of Guru Govind Singh University New Delhi, Building of Safdarjung Airport Office, Building of ESIC Hospital Housing and Medical College Faridabad, Building of ESIC Lucknow, Building of ESIC Hospital Noida, Building of Innovation Center of IIT Delhi.
Delhi Airport or Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi is operated by the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), a consortium led by the GMR Group. The airport consists of three terminals, namely T1, T2, and T3, with Terminal 1 exclusively handling domestic flight operations.
It is pertinent to mention here that GMR had posted a video on its YouTube channel in May 2024 about the expansion of terminal 1. In its description, GMR wrote, "Here’s a look at the newly expanded Terminal 1 at Delhi International Airport! Inaugurated by PM Shri Narendra Modi, this expansion puts Delhi International Airport Terminal in the global 100 Million passenger capacity club joining the globe's airport elite."
As a result, the opposition raised questions on PM Modi. On the claims that the terminal that collapsed was inaugurated by PM Modi just months before, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said, "...we are taking this incident seriously...I want to clarify that the building inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi is on the other side and the building that collapsed here is an old building and was opened in 2009..."
Talking more about Delhi Airport & GMR, in January 2006, a GMR group-led consortium was awarded the concession to operate, manage, and develop the IGI Airport following an international competitive bidding process. The initial term of the concession period is 30 years extendable by another 30 years. GMR group had then commissioned the new domestic departure terminal—1D in February 2009.
As part of its master plan of making Delhi airport ‘future ready,’ the airport had started expansion work of Terminal 1 in 2019 and is now the largest domestic terminal in the country at a capacity of 40 million passengers per annum, up from 17 million passengers earlier. Currently, it exclusively handles domestic carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet. The revamped terminal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March this year.
It is pertinent to mention here that a report quoted government sources saying that the construction of the affected roof was contracted out by GMR Airports Limited to private contractors. However, the details of the private contractors have not been revealed.