Airport accident a cause for concern
The recent mishap at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar is a definite cause for worry. The roof of an under-construction building to link two terminals of Odisha’s only international airport caved in while it was being cast on Friday night. The incident, which claimed the life of a worker at the site, has triggered huge outrage over the poor quality of work being carried out at an international airport that is looking to multiply operations and bring in more flyers.
Preliminary investigation has shown the agency that was awarded the project had been barred from taking up new ventures for slow pace of work last year. Of the four arrested in connection with the incident, two are senior executives of the Airports Authority of India and were mandated to supervise and ensure the quality of work, which definitely does not augur well. Airports are not just critical infrastructure, they are also like ambassadors of a country. Any question mark on the standard of their design and construction is a blot on the national agency that is in charge of such facilities used by millions of travellers from across the globe every year.
For Odisha, it comes as an embarrassment too. There have at least been half-a-dozen such mishaps related to major infrastructure in the last three years, beginning with the collapse of a flyover in the state capital followed by more such incidents concerning bridge projects. But it is not just in Odisha that such big structures are crashing. Not too long ago, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh too reported major mishaps that caused far more damage to both life and property.
Such infrastructure usually involve hundreds of crores in spending from the state exchequer and attract big firms, some of which enjoy political patronage too. That is a key reason why some of them get away with shoddy work. Even as India looks to give a serious push to the infrastructure sector—key to its growth story—it must not suffer a setback due to lack of quality. It not only sends bad vibes from an economic superpower-to-be but more importantly endangers the lives of citizens.