Controversies do not always end at a bad note or without resolving the issue. Such a controversy has bought out a solution by the recent government in the aviation sector. Controversy related to name of the Chandigarh International Airport took place in 2009 and later continued in September 2015. Later on, this controversy was stirred by: Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor, who is quite known for his ‘frank talk’, has stirred a controversy after the question raised by him- the naming of roadways, airports and the railway stations across India are on the names of the ‘Gandhi family’.
Modi government has taken the initiative to end the practice of naming airports after the names of famous personalities. The civil aviation ministry in a policy has decided that all the new airports are now to be named after the name of the city in which the airport is located. Ministry has sent a note to inter-ministerial consultations assuming that the Union Cabinet shall clear the same within a month’s time. State government decides the name of the airport which is then applied to Centre where Union Cabinet finalizes the same taking the final call on the name of the airport. New airports are to build in Mumbai, Goa and Delhi and this naming policy shall be valid there too. The new rules will not be implemented on the new airport and the upcoming ones, old ones will not be changed. Only the names of the terminals and lounges are to be named after famous personalities.
An aviation expert and a former pilot, Mohan Ranganathan, said- “This is a welcome move but the government should also remove names from all airports in the country. Naming of airports is political and the government should totally do away with it”.
He further added – renaming of the names of the old airports will create confusion for passengers. “An international passenger landing in Chennai will land at Anna international airport but takes off from Kamaraj if the same passenger is flying a domestic sector. What is the need to confuse passengers?”
Verdict: This initiative is a good one, where changing names might cost a lot but the new policy which is to be passed for the new airports is undoubtedly a good one. This shall now not promote the major inaugurations on the names of major personalities majorly “Gandhi’s”.
Author: Mrs. Viveka Verma Nagar