Tiles, glasses continue to break at Chennai airport

Chennai: Three wall tiles near the lift on the mezzanine floor at the newly built domestic terminal of the Chennai airport fell on Tuesday, in the latest mishap at the premises.

Airports Authority of India (AAI), which manages the Chennai domestic and international airports, is yet to ascertain the cause of the incident. Three tiles on the lift panel at mezzanine floor (the floor between the ground and first floor) that has offices of airport staff, fell off but none was injured in the incident, airport officials said.

“Some men working on one side of the lift for fixing signage were drilling the wall near it. Because of the effect of drilling, prima facie, it appears that one of the tiles fell, and along with it, two more tiles came off and landed on the ground,” Chennai airport director Deepak Shastri told Deccan Chronicle.

“We are yet to complete the investigation. And we will not lay back the tiles unless we find if the quality of adhesive used previously was sub-standard. If it found to be an issue with the quality of material used, the contractor will be penalized,” he added.

Workers at the airport said such incidents keep happening. “Every now and then we hear of glass falling down, so there is a perennial work of fixing glass panels going on. Thankfully, no one has been hurt in such incidents,” said a security guard at the airport.

 Airline passenger association members are infuriated at the lackadaisical attitude of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the director. “Where is the Rs 2,000 crore that was put for revamping the airport in 2013. This is nothing but sheer mismanagement of public funds. Airports of other cities are never in the news for falling of glass panels,” said D. Sudhakara Reddy of Air Passengers Association of India. “Even Kolkata that has an airport maintained by AAI has a beautiful airport sans any such issues.”

Asai Thambi, a frequent flier from the Chennai airport, says people like him enter the premises with a fear whether there would be any incident of glass or ceiling fall while they are at the airport. “I have not been affected personally. But, I think the government should concentrate more on maintaining the airport,” he said.
 However, the airport director blamed the media saying it is “playing up the incident”. “It is a worldwide issue of glass breaking on its own due to nickel sulphide impurities but no solution has been ever found. Apart from the hype, when glass breaks of implosion due to such impurities and falls, it’s already in its granule form incapable of causing injuries,” Mr Shastri said.

“As far as falling of glass slabs is concerned, my job is to mitigate risks and ensure that no injuries to people are caused. If slabs from higher part of the building fall, they would fall outside because of the way the building is designed or where there is a chance of glass falling down within the airport, those areas have been left out from any access to passengers,” he said.