Another month and the loss of at least one life and injuries to eight people could have been avoided at Terminal 1 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
The 15-year-old departure terminal, the part of a canopy of which collapsed at around 5am on Friday, was scheduled to be shut down in a month’s time.
“The expansion of Terminal 1 is in the last lap and in another month, the old structure is to be shut down. This is a 15-year-old structure, part of the old departure terminal,” a GMR official told The Telegraph Online.
Though many pointed to a part of the terminal being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 10, both Union civil aviation minister K. Rammohan Naidu and the GMR, which runs the airport, said that the collapsed portion was of an old structure, meaning built during the UPA years.
From May 2004 till January 2011, Praful Patel, currently a part of the Ajit Pawar led Nationalist Congress Party and now a part of the ruling NDA bloc, was the minister of state for civil aviation with independent charge, when the old terminal was constructed.
“The technical reasons and other aspects of the incident will be known after the investigation,” minister Naidu told reporters. “The structure that collapsed on Friday morning was opened in 2009 and the airport operator Delhi International Airport Limited has been ordered to do an inspection of the structure.”
Naidu, who visited the accident site in the morning, ordered a probe into the cause of the accident and announced a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the family of the deceased and Rs 3 lakh to those injured, according to PTI.
The minister said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation will supervise the inspection and will submit a report. The minister said a thorough checking of all similar structures at airports across the country will be carried out.
The minister did not give any deadline for the inspection.
Naidu said the emergency response teams including the fire brigade, the CISF and the NDRF personnel were pressed into action.
The civil aviation ministry on Friday said heavy rain had resulted in the collapse of the canopy of Delhi airport T1.
"As a result of which flights to & from Terminal 1 have been closed till further notice. Alternate arrangements are being made for smooth operation of the flights," the ministry said in a post on X.
"Due to heavy rain since early this morning, a portion of the canopy at the old departure forecourt of Delhi airport's Terminal 1 collapsed around 5 am. There are injuries reported, and emergency personnel are working to provide all necessary assistance and medical aid to those affected," a DIAL spokesperson said in a statement.
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu visits the Delhi airport after a portion of the roof of the Terminal-1 collapsed amid heavy rain, in New Delhi PTI
Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), a consortium led by GMR Group, is the operator of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital.
"We sincerely regret this disruption and apologise for any inconvenience caused." the spokesperson said.
Naidu’s deputy in the civil aviation ministry, Murlidhor Mohol, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) said, the preliminary information indicated the structure was built in 2009.
“This morning a part of the roof at the T1 of Delhi airport collapsed due to unprecedented heavy rains in the capital. Tragically, one person has lost their life, and six others have been injured. I am currently at Safdarjung hospital trauma centre, interacting with the injured and closely monitoring the situation in coordination with Naidu ji. Preliminary information indicates this structure was built in 2009. My thoughts are with the victims and their families during this difficult time,” Mohol posted.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge pinned the blame on the Modi government not just for Friday’s accident but a series of infrastructure-related disasters that have happened during Modi’s previous and just-started tenure.
“Corruption and criminal negligence is responsible for the collapse of shoddy infrastructure falling like a deck of cards in the past ten years of Modi government,” Kharge wrote on X, rolling out a list of incidents that included the Delhi T1 collapse, the Jabalpur Airport collapse, water-logged streets of Ayodhya, leakage in the newly constructed Ram temple at Ayodhya, cracks in Mumbais Atal Setu, the collapse of 13 bridges in the state of Bihar in 2023 and 2024, the submerging of the Pragati Maidan tunnel and the collapse of the Morbi bridge in Modi’s home state Gujarat are some stark instances which exposes the tall claims by Modi and BJP of creating “world class infrastructure. On March 10th, when Modi inaugurated the Delhi airport T1, he called himself “doosri mitti ka insaan (made of a different stuff)”. All this false bravado and rhetoric was only reserved for quickly indulging in ribbon-cutting ceremonies before elections. Our heartfelt condolences to the victims of the Delhi airport tragedy. They bore the brunt of a Corrupt, Inept and Selfish government,” Kharge wrote.
Delhi after Jabalpur
The accident at the Delhi airport happened a day after a portion of the roof of Jabalpur’s Dumna airport fell on a private vehicle. The renovated airport in Madhya Pradesh, which cost Rs 450 crore, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 10.
