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CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Congress MLAs Mr. LAL Singh, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa ,Parminder Singh & Gurkirat Singh Kotli today took strong notice of the politicisation between Punjab and Haryana on the issue of naming Chandigarh International Airport after Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh.
“Shaheed Bhagat Singh is a national hero and there should not be any objection to anybody on the naming of an airport in his name. The Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi himself should have ended this controversy by making the announcement from the stage. Haryana should have no objection on naming Chandigarh airport in the name of Shaheed-e-Azam”, said party MLA,s.
They slammed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for demanding that Mohali should be added to the name of the airport arguing that Chandigarh happened to be the capital of Punjab and the Badal duo was diluting Punjab’s claim over Chandigarh by raising this demand.
“Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal has all along been misleading the people of Punjab that this was a new airport in Mohali and he tried to give this impression even in the adv. the state government released in the newspapers that appeared on the day of its inauguration. He should have the courage to admit that it is only a new international terminal that has been added to the existing Chandigarh airport that has been constructed on the land acquired in Mohali. This does not make it a new airport”, they added.
They said the basic issue was of indulging in tug of war on the naming of the airport and this should end by naming it as Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh. Mr Badal should have publicly raised the demand for the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab from the stage of the rally that was addressed by the Prime Minister. They regretted that the Chief Minister failed to take up any of the demands on which his party had been claiming to have been fighting over the years. Earlier, he could blame the Congress government at the centre but it was his own government led by Mr Modi. they said even the commitment of Mr Badal stood exposed.
They urged the state government, particularly Mr Sukhbir Badal not to dilute Punjab’s claim over Chandigarh by carrying on this controversy over naming of Chandigarh international airport. Rather the effort should be to get the work started on the extension of the runway to utilise full potential as presently, only small aircraft could be operated from the existing runway.
