A series of shocking incidents are bringing to light the concerning state of airport infrastructure in India. On Friday, a portion of the Terminal 1 roof of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) collapsed when the city was hit with heavy rains. The canopy-like roof fell on cars including taxis and killed one person and injured eight. And now in a span of just three days, portions of canopies of Jabalpur Airport in Madhya Pradesh and Rajkot Airport in Gujarat met with the same fate.
As per a report by The Economic Times, a portion of the roof canopy of Dumna Airport’s newly expanded terminal in Jabalpur gave way to heavy rains. The roof collapsed on a government official’s car at around 11:30 am. This happened shortly after the government official and his chauffeur alighted from the vehicle. The roof collapsed after it was weighed down by large quantities of rainwater.
In the third incident in just a span of three days, a Rajkot Airport’s canopy collapsed at the passenger pickup and drop area. As per preliminary information, there were no reports of injuries or casualties. According to a report by LiveMint, the canopy broke while workers were carrying out maintenance work to remove accumulated water.
To mitigate such airport disasters, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu has announced a structural preliminary inspection of all airports across the country. Within a time frame of two to five days, the minister has demanded reports from all airports.
The Delhi Airport canopy collapse led to the death of a 45-year-old cab driver and injured eight others. He informed that the deceased’s family had been given compensation. And the people injured due to the canopy accident are receiving treatment at the hospital. Also, the minister has set up a war room to ensure refunds are provided to affected passengers. Airlines have received instructions not to increase fare prices following this incident.
Meanwhile, we hope such incidents are avoided in the near future and the government takes strict actions to prevent them.
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