The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has pinned the responsibility on the BJP-led central government for the catastrophic roof collapse at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport’s newly constructed Terminal-1. Senior AAP leader Jasmine Shah attributed the tragic incident, which resulted in one death and multiple injuries, to widespread corruption within the Modi administration. The AAP Leader demanded a CBI investigation into all central government infrastructure projects, asserting that the incident was more than an accident—labeling it a murder. The AAP pointed out that the BJP had recklessly inaugurated the unfinished terminal on March 10 for electoral gains, urging the Prime Minister to admit fault and apologize to the nation. Similar incidents, including a recent collapse at Jabalpur airport and numerous bridge failures in Bihar, were cited as evidence of the government’s negligent “donate and get work done” practices.
In a press conference at the party headquarters on Friday, Senior AAP leader Jasmine Shah said that the incident of the collapse of the roof of Terminal-1 of Delhi International Airport is extremely unfortunate and sad. All the airports across the country, including Delhi, come under the Airport Authority of India, an agency of the central government. People across the world form their opinion on India by looking at the country’s capital, Delhi. The roof of Delhi International Airport collapsed in the first rain itself.
“In this tragic incident, one person lost his life and 8 people are reported to be injured. The AAP has sympathy and condolences with all these aggrieved families. This is not an ordinary accident, but murder, because this is the same Terminal-1 which was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on March 10. It is a very serious matter that the election was to be announced on March 15, but the Prime Minister inaugurated the Terminal-1 building on March 10 even before its construction was completed. As a result, its roof collapsed in the first monsoon rain on Friday. One person lost his life and many people were injured in this accident,” he said.
Jasmine Shah further added that the BJP inaugurates incomplete infrastructure projects to take political advantage in the elections, even if it leads to people losing their lives, it does not matter to them. This is not the first incident. In the last two days, there have been two such major incidents of collapse of new terminals. On Thursday, the roof of the newly built Jabalpur Domestic Airport Terminal also collapsed after the first rain. Many people were injured in this accident too. The Jabalpur terminal was also inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on March 10. The BJP government at the centre hastily inaugurated all the incomplete projects before the announcement of elections. This is a very sad incident. The central government should give compensation of ₹1 crore to the families of all the deceased and ₹50 lakhs to the injured.
The AAP leader stated that the biggest question here is that under what circumstances and to whom are new government infrastructure projects being given. Full payment is made for these projects, but the work is half-finished and after a few days all their shortcomings come out. On Thursday, the roof of the Jabalpur Domestic Terminal and on Friday the Delhi Indira Gandhi International Terminal-1 building collapsed. Apart from this, the 21 km long Atal Setu Bridge connecting Mumbai to Navi Mumbai, the bridge that was built at a cost of ₹17,800 crore, was also inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi himself in January 2024.
After only 6 months, huge cracks are appearing in it too. Who will take responsibility for this?
“At the time of inauguration of a project, PM Modi and his ministers reach there to garner applause, but when shortcomings start coming out one by one, they are nowhere to be seen, they disappear. Dozens of bridges have collapsed in Bihar in the last one year. In the last one week only, 4 bridges have collapsed here. A 70-metre bridge collapsed on Thursday in Kishanganj, Bihar,” he added.
Jasmine Shah further asserted, “The Modi government has started a campaign of ‘Chanda Do, Dhanda Lo’ (Donate and Get Business) in the country. This is the reason why big scams are happening in these projects today. Big infrastructure projects are being given to anyone, there is no monitoring of it. This incident at Delhi International Terminal-1 is extremely unfortunate.”
“The central government and PM Modi should apologize to the country and accept their mistake that they inaugurated Terminal-1 in a rush, which was wrong. They should take responsibility for it. The only fault of the people who suffered in this accident was that they trusted the central government that it had taken full care of the safety of the people. If this is the condition of Delhi Airport Terminal, then we can understand what will be the condition of other infrastructure projects of the central government going on in the country?” Jasmine Shah questioned.
“PM Modi and the BJP government should tell the country who is responsible for this accident? First the projects are inaugurated by ignoring the safety of the people and when such accidents happen later, the government backs out from taking responsibility for it. There should be a CBI investigation into this scam going on in the name of infrastructure in the country. The BJP starts these infrastructure projects only to collect donations and to cut the ribbon and garner applause. It has nothing to do with providing better facilities to the public,” he concluded.
