"Taking a serious note of complaints of irregularities in construction of new terminal building of the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport in Lucknow, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has decided to refer the matter to Chief Technical Examiner's wing of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for conducting a detailed enquiry into construction of the building," a statement from the Ministry said.
The decision was taken by the Minister following a preliminary report submitted by a committee, headed by Chief Vigilance Officer of Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, Samir Sahai.
The committee was constituted by Singh after receiving complaints from Members of Parliament and reports in the media about defects in construction of the building, which was inaugurated in May this year.
"The report submitted by the enquiry officer has prima facie substantiated various defects in the construction quality, design and maintenance of Lucknow airport terminal," the statement said, adding that the committee members visited the airport and found the quality of work of the new terminal building below standard.
Some of the major defects that the committee found include leakage from the roof above the check-in counter, in the ceilings near the departure lounge corridor and from some of the thermal expansion joints, it said.
The rain water harvesting system was found prone to leakage as no proper drainage was in place and the flooring in the arrival and departure terminal was not proper with granite stone cracking at some places, the statement said. The electrical fittings were not properly fixed up at many places, it said.
The overall maintenance of building was in poor condition despite the fact that it was inaugurated only about two months back, it said.
"Also, as the committee found that architectural design and construction shortcomings and defects and quality of work need to be verified in detail, it was decided to refer the matter to the CVC," it said, adding the building was being constructed at a cost of about Rs 90 crore out of which Rs 85 crore has already been paid to the contractor.
The Ministry also said that the authorities would take stern action against those found guilty.
