Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today said the state would put up a request at the next director board meeting of Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) to rename it after veteran congress leader and former State Chief Minister K Karunakaran.
"There have been numerous requests to change the present name of Cochin airport after Karunakaran, who was mainly responsible for setting up the country`s first airport in the public-private-partnership route`, Chandy said.
Though there was criticism from several quarters against the project at the beginning, Karunakaran `boldly` went ahead with it, Chandy said.
The Chief Minister said it was for the Board of Directors to take a call on changing the airport name as it is a policy decision. "Government will present its request in the next general body meeting of the Board," he added.
Stating that CIAL which started operation in June 1999 was a success story of the state, he said the airport stood fifth in the world under the Investment profit ratio. The issue was raised by Anwar Sadath (Cong) as a submission.
