To give tribute to one of India’s greatest freedom fighter, Bhagat Singh on his 115th birth anniversary, Chandigarh airport was officially renamed Shaheed Bhagat Singh International airport. Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann along with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and governors of Punjab and Haryana attended the event today. While addressing the function to rename the airport, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann urged the Centre to start more international flights from Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport in Chandigarh to facilitate the Punjabi diaspora across the globe. Mann has urged Nirmala Sitharaman to flag this issue with the Prime Minister and her counterpart in Civil Aviation.


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He said today is the 115th birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and this day has been made memorable with the decision to name the airport after the legendary martyr. Mann said the Union government must start more flights from this airport.


The Chief Minister said that the Punjab diaspora from across the globe has been demanding such flights to ensure air connectivity from the state to Canada, the US, Australia, and other parts of the world. He said besides commuters from Punjab, these flights will also benefit travellers from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu-Kashmir, and other states.


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Mann said the state government has made concerted efforts for renaming this airport after the name of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. The Chief Minister profusely thanked the Union government for naming the airport after Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh.


He said that a long-pending demand of the country has been accepted. Paying floral tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, he said that the young martyr is remembered not only for his heroism but also for his philosophy of socialism and fight against injustice.


Earlier, the Union Finance Minister was accompanied by Governor Punjab Banwari Lal Purohit, Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Union Minister General (retired) V.K. Singh, Member Parliament Kirron Kher, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, and Haryana Minister Anil Vij unveiled the plaque to name the airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh.


(With inputs from IANS)