Delhi Airport Terminal 1 canopy collapse kills 1, Congress, BJP indulge in blame game

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge held “Corruption” and “criminal negligence” responsible for the Delhi Airport canopy collapse incident at Terminal 1 on Friday morning and also listed several incidents from past “exposing” Prime Minister’s claims of creating “World Class Infrastructure”.

Kharge also alleged that the portion that has collapsed was inaugurated by the PM on 10 March.

Hours after the incident, which left one dead and several injured, Kharge wrote in a post on X, “Corruption and criminal negligence are responsible for the collapse of shoddy infrastructure falling like a deck of cards, in the past 10 years of Modi Govt.”

“Delhi Airport (T1) roof collapse, Jabalpur airport roof collapse, Abysmal condition of Ayodhya’s new roads, Ram Mandir leakage, Cracks in Mumbai Trans Harbour Link road, 13 new bridges falling in Bihar in 2023 & 2024, Pragati Maidan Tunnel submerging, Morbi bridge collapse tragedy in Gujarat, ... are some stark instances which expose the tall claims by Modi ji and BJP of creating “World Class Infrastructure”! On March 10th, when Modi ji inaugurated the Delhi Airport T1, he called himself “Doosri mitti ka insaan... All this false bravado and rhetoric was only reserved for quickly indulging in ribbon-cutting ceremonies before Elections! ,” he added in the post.

Paying condolences to victims, Kharge wrote, “Our heartfelt condolences to the victims of the Delhi airport tragedy. They bore the brunt of a Corrupt, Inept and Selfish Govt.”

Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi also aligned her statement with the party president and highlighted the recent inauguration done by PM and alleged poor quality of work.

“Delhi Airport Terminal-1, which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister in March, today its roof collapsed in which a cab driver died tragically. The roof of Jabalpur Airport, which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister three months ago, also collapsed. The whole country is saddened by the poor condition of construction work in Ayodhya,” said Priyanka.

Further, she also questioned the PM for taking responsibility and said, “This is the corrupt model of BJP of “take donations and give business” which has now been exposed. The question is whether the Prime Minister will take responsibility for these poor construction works and this corrupt model?”

While debunking Congress’s claim that the portion that collapsed was inaugurated by PM Modi on March 10, BJP leader Amit Malviya said the part of T1 that collapsed was opened in 2009, when Congress-led UPA was in power.

“The part of T1 that collapsed was opened in 2009 when Congress-led UPA was in power. In those days there was no concept of quality check and contracts were given to whoever sent the biggest kickback to the ruling Congress. Sonia Gandhi, who was then the super PM, must answer.”

Earlier Civil Aviation Minister also clarified that the roof canopy that had collapsed was part of the old structure that was built in 2009.

“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,” he said.

Notably, the incident occurred when Delhi-NCR was hit by a spell of heavy rains on Friday.