The Central Government on Thursday approved the long lasting pending proposal of re-christening the name of Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow airport, from Amausi International airport to ‘Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport’, informed Civil Aviation Ministry.
In the bid to re-christening the airport, government has argued that since long time, the proposal was pending and it was the decision to honour the sentiments of the people of Uttar Pradesh.
“This decision will honour the sentiments of the people and will be a befitting tribute to the late Prime Minister, who was an eminent freedom fighter and a leader of farmers,” said Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram who was responding to media in this regard.
“Over the past several years, governments in Uttar Pradesh have raised the demand for naming the airport after the late Prime Minister many times,” added FM.
But when media linked this re-christening of airport from the “power show” in the parliament scheduled on July 21-22 as Ajit Singh, the son of Chaudhary Charan Singh and president of Rastriya Lok Dal (RLD) may prove vital for UPA government with his 3 MPs, Chidambaram replied “It will facilitate better take-offs and landings,” however, he also added that both the question and answer were off the record. Later, FM officials also announced that the comments were off the record.
“Several other airports in the country had been named after eminent personalities,” said Chidambaram to prove this decision correct and to prove that there is no political intension behind, he pointed out several airports which were earlier renamed like Ahmedabad airport turned Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Patna by Jayaprakash Narayan, Udaipur by Maharana Pratap, Bhubaneshwar by Biju Patnaik, and Varanasi by second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.
In the government’s move of naming Lucknow airport on his father’s name, Chaudhary Ajit Singh, said, “It is a right decision though it came late. I met to Prime Minister over this mater while it was a pending demand.”
The Civil Aviation Ministry released a press statement in this matter to inform it that this proposal had been approved in the parliament and Prime Minister was satisfied with the outcome of the programme and called for speedy implementation.
Appraising the naming personality, Ministry stated, “Chaudhary Charan Singh was the 7th Prime Minister of the country. He was also an eminent freedom fighter and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He was known for his simplicity, honesty and special commitment to the cause of farmers. His contribution to enforcing and implementation of Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act is unforgettable. Keeping in view Chaudhary Charan Singh's contribution to the Nation and his special association with the State of Uttar Pradesh, the Government thought it appropriate to name the airport, in the capital of Uttar Pradesh, after him.”
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