LUCKNOW: Poor quality of material used in construction of new terminal in Amausi airport stood exposed once again as a part of glass pane of the frontal facade came down crashing after strong wind followed by rain lashed the building on Thursday morning. Thankfully, no passenger was injured in the incident.
The incident took place at around 9.00 am, much to the shock of passengers and visitors waiting outside the arrival section. "I was waiting for my relative, who was to arrive from Delhi, when suddenly I heard a crashing sound just outside the main facade," said Alok Saxena, a visitor.
A senior official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), however, maintained that it was a small part of the glass that gave away as strong winds lashed the structure. Airport director, Suresh Hota, said that the damaged part will be replaced soon. Hota said, "Under the agreement, the developer will be responsible for such lapses and will have to replace damaged parts."
The incident comes to the fore barely 10 days after Union civil aviation minister Ajit Singhexpressing concern over the quality of material used and the maintenance of the building, while ordering a probe into alleged use of sub-standard material in the construction of the building.
The matter has already been referred to the chief technical examiner's wing of the Central Vigilance Commission for a detailed inquiry. A preliminary inquiry conducted by a committee, headed by chief vigilance officer of Pawan Hans, Samir Sahai, had found the complaints of defects in the construction quality, design and maintenance of the terminal, true.
Some of the major defects that the committee had then detected included leakages from the roof above the check-in counter, in the ceilings near the departure lounge corridor and from some of the thermal expansion joints.
The rainwater harvesting method too has been found prone to leakage, as proper drainage system is not in place. The committee also found cracks in the granite flooring of the arrival and departure terminal. Besides this, the electrical fittings were also not properly fixed up at many places.
The overall maintenance of the building seems to be in poor condition, despite the fact that it was inaugurated barely two months ago by Ajit Singh.
The building is estimated to be constructed at a cost of about Rs 120 crore by Brahmaputra Infrastructure Ltd. The contract for the construction was awarded in October 2007 with April 2009 as the date of completion. However, the project was delayed and completed in May 2012.
