Chandigarh International Airport Renamed as Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport | 29 Sep 2022
Why In News?
- On 28 September 2022 Chandigarh International Airport was renamed as Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh on the occasion of 115th birth anniversary of freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh. The name was officially inaugurated by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Key Points
- Chandigarh International Airport could not be named after Shaheed Bhagat Singh for 14 years due to politics in the name of Mohali-Chandigarh. The governments of both Haryana and Punjab had agreed to name the airport after Sardar Bhagat Singh, but the Punjab government wanted to put Mohali behind it and the Haryana government did not want to change Chandigarh.
- It is worth noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his monthly radio program 'Mann Ki Baat' on September 25 had announced to name the Chandigarh International Airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
- It is known that Chandigarh International Airport Limited is a joint venture of Airport Authority of India (AAI), Government of Punjab and Haryana. AAI holds 51 per cent stake in the project, while Punjab and Haryana government has 24.5 and 24.5 per cent. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 11, 2015.
- At present, 82 flights are operating from Chandigarh International Airport. There are direct flights from this airport to Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Srinagar, Ahmedabad, Goa, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kullu, Pune, Leh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Hisar, Dehradun. While only two international flights are available from this airport to Dubai and Sharjah.