Ceiling of Andaman airport, inaugurated by Modi, collapses; Scindia clarifies
Just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially inaugurated the New Integrated Terminal Building (NITB) of Port Blair's Veer Savarkar International Airport in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, visuals of the false ceiling collapsing went viral on Sunday. This development has triggered a fresh spat between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership.
Visuals of Veer Savarkar Airport
Congress's Jairam Ramesh attacks PM Modi over viral clip
After the visuals of the collapsed parts at the aiport went viral, veteran grand old party leader Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter to take a dig at PM Modi. "The Prime Minister will inaugurate anything these days — even if it's unfinished or substandard infrastructure (highways, airports, bridges, trains, etc)," Ramesh said. "Such a sorry state of affairs in 'New India'!" he added.
Twitter post by Congress leader Ramesh
Jyotiraditya Scindia releases clarification on matter
In response to Ramesh's tweet, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the structure seen in the video was outside the terminal building. "Heavy winds (about 100 km/hr) later led to the swinging panels as seen in the video," the BJP leader tweeted. Asking Ramesh not to jump the gun, Scindia added that the false ceiling had been restored.
Scindia's Twitter response to Ramesh
Details on airport authority's statement on incident
Meanwhile, the airport authority said in a statement, "On the night of July 22, there was heavy wind, which uplifted the false ceiling from the bottom since the wind was not able to escape towards the ticketing counter area." "Due to this, around 10 sqm of false ceiling became dislocated, but the same has been rectified," PTI quoted the official release as saying.
Know about Veer Savarkar Airport's NITB
The airport's new integrated terminal was virtually inaugurated by PM Modi on Tuesday. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) constructed the new terminal at a cost of Rs. 707.73 crore due to a surge in passenger traffic. With a total area of 40,837 square meters, this building will be able to handle around 40 lakh annual passengers and 1,200 passengers during peak hours.
