Nirmala Sitharaman to do the “Naming Ceremony” of Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
To pay tribute to Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh on his 115th birth anniversary, today, Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to head the ceremony of renaming the international airport at Mohali /Chandigarh after Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Banwarilal Purohit, Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatraya, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij, Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari, Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher and Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh will be present during the renaming ceremony at the airport at 10:30 am.
From today, the airport will be called “Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had just three days ago had said the Chandigarh airport would be named after Shaheed Bhagat Singh as a tribute to the great freedom fighter.
The naming of the Mohali/Chandigarh international airport remained in controversy since its inaguration as the the Punjab Government was demanding that the airport be named as Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Mohali. But, the Haryana Government said it had no objection over the use of Bhagat Singh’s name but it had reservations over the use of ‘Mohali’ as the collective contribution of the Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh is involved in the construction and modernisation of this airport.Haryana was demanding that it also had an equal share in its construction, the name of Panchkula should also be added to its name.
But, in August this year Punjab and Haryana agreed to name the Chandigarh International Airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh.The decision was taken during a meeting between Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Haryana deputy CM Dushyant Chautala.
The airport is situated in a Defence airfield that is being used by civilian operators as well. The air traffic control and runway operations are looked after by the Indian Air Force staff.
September 28,2022
