Acase was filed in the High Court to fix accountability. Delhi Police had registered a first information report.
NEW DELHI: The Airports Authority of India (AAI), under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is still “examining” the response of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) more than six months after receiving an investigation report. DIAL manages the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in New Delhi, where a canopy collapse at Terminal 1 led to the death of one person, injuries to eight, and significant flight disruptions.
DIAL is a joint venture between GMR Group, Airports Authority of India (AAI), and Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, commonly known as Fraport, a German transport company.
The canopy collapsed on 28 June 2024 after which Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu visited the airport promising strict actions.
Soon after, IIT Delhi and IIT Jammu were asked to investigate the accident and a three-member panel of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and IIT Jammu civil engineering professors—Dipti Ranjan Sahoo, K.N. Jha, and Deepak Yadav—was constituted, which submitted its report on 1 October 2024.
Official sources alleged that two weeks later, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) issued a show-cause notice to DIAL, citing a “grave and inescapable lapse” on the operator’s part.
In its findings, sources alleges, it was found that flawed design, inferior workmanship, inadequate maintenance, and major discrepancies between design and construction were possible key factors that led to the collapse of the canopy.
However, these findings were termed as “inaccurate” by DIAL, which claimed that the experts relied on “probabilities, hypothesis, and conjectures” rather than empirical data or complete documentation.
DIAL has stated that the canopy collapsed due to rainfall.
On 17 March, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol told the Rajya Sabha that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was examining the inputs furnished by DIAL on the investigation report into the incident. More than one month has passed since the minister made this statement in the House.
Sources aware of the matter alleged to The Sunday Guardian that man-made issues and lapses led to the collapse of the canopy, the death of a man and a loss worth crores to the aviation industry as multiple flights had to be shifted from one terminal to another.
Post the accident, a case was also filed in the High Court to fix accountability. Delhi Police had registered a first information report (FIR) u/s 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Sunday Guardian sent a detailed questionnaire to Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu, GMR, Fraport AG and Directorate General of Civil Aviation director Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, who was handed the report that was prepared by a three-member IIT-Delhi team that included Dipti Ranjan Sahoo, K.N. Jha and Deepak Yadav seeking, among other questions, whether accountability will be fixed in this case.
Fraport AG said it would be unable to comment on the report. GMR spokesperson, despite multiple requests, did not share any response.
No response was shared by AAI on why it was still examining the report more than six months after it was handed over to them by the expert committee.
The Sunday Guardian also reached out to the Director of IIT Delhi, Prof Rangan Banerjee on the allegations by DIAL, questioning the report prepared by the experts at IIT. No response was shared by the time the story went to press.
Earlier, the spokesperson of IIT, Delhi had stated that the report had been handed to the relevant government office for their use as IIT’s responsibility was to identify the flaws and reasons behind the accident.