HOUSE FOR NAMING AIRPORT AFTER SHAHEED BHAGAT SINGH

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution in favour of naming Chandigarh airport as Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport.

Haryana parliamentary affairs minister Ram Bilas Sharma moved the resolution after the question hour, which was unanimously passed by the ruling BJP and the opposition Indian National Lok Dal, besides Bahujan Samaj Party and independent MLAs. Sharma said the government would soon write to the Union civil aviation ministry in the context.

Though the resolution brings about a consensus between Punjab and Haryana on naming the airport after the great freedom fighter, there still remains disagreement over the issue whether it should be called Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh or Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Mohali, as was demanded by Punjab.

The assemblies of Punjab and Haryana had, in 2009 and 2010 respectively, passed resolutions for naming the airport after martyr Bhagat Singh. Both states have a 24.5% stake each in the airport terminal project. However, the BJP government headed by Manohar Lal Khattar, which came to power in October 2014, wrote to the civil aviation ministry to name the airport after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Mangal Sein who had also been deputy chief minister of Haryana for about two years from 1977. HTC