Bharat Ratna Gopinath Bordoloi removed from Guwahati airport. Protest against handing over of Guwahati airport to Adani
From Bhupen Goswami
GUWAHATI : In Assam, a picture of a newspaper advertisement in Guwahati is going viral where the LBBI airport is said to be Adani Guwahati International Airport Limited. Advertising “Invites parties to participate in the e-tendering process for provisions of various non-aeronautical services at the airport”. In Assam, several members of the Assam Ethnic Council (AJP) protesting against the handing over of Guwahati airport to a private company were taken into custody by the police. Police said the detained protesters were later released.
AJP chief L Gogoi said the party and the people of the state cannot accept that the airport goes into the hands of a private company and it should be renamed. He said the airport has been upgraded recently with taxpayers’ rupees. The party said the protesters had been conducting a signature drive since Monday to protest against the handing over of Locopriyo Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport to Adani Airport Holding Limited (AAHL). Meanwhile, Assam Congress leader Apurva Kumar Bhattacharjee slammed bjp governments both at the Centre and in the state claiming that the airport has been renamed. Bhattacharjee said the Modi-led BJP government has insulted Bharat Ratna popular Gopinath Bordoloi ji. The people of Assam now have to think about how bjp works! Other organisations and political parties in the state have not yet responded to the Adani Group Act to rename the Guwahati airport, named after bharat ratna popular Gopinath Bordoloi, who played a key role in India’s independence and served as the first chief. Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has finally broken his silence on rumours of renaming the Populargopinath Bordoloi International Airport saying it is not going to change its name. Addressing the media today, Sarma said, “No one can change the name of The PopularGopinath Bordoloi International Airport (LBGIA) as long as I am cm here.
Assam Chief Minister also asked them not to create unrest in the matter. There is speculation that the LBBI airport named after Assam’s first CM Gopinath Bordoloi should soon be named after Adani Group and the fire broke out after a tender invitation published in some newspapers has gone viral on social media in the name of Adani Guwahati International Airport. It is mentioned here that on August 2, Shiv Sena workers damaged and then removed a signboard naming Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport as Adani Airport. Shiv Sena is opposing naming mumbai airport after Adani group.Adani Group took over the management of Mumbai International Airport in July this year under the control of GVK Group. Adani Group controls 74% stake in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, with 50.5% stake being purchased from GVK Group and 23.5% from minority partners including airport company South Africa (ACSA) and Bidwest Group. Adani Group is now eyeing the international airport in Guwahati. Adani Group launched its ‘Observation Period’ at the popular Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati.
An airport authority of India official said that a 9-member team of Adani C Airport Holding Limited (AAHL), led by Chief Airport Officer Utpal Barua, an aviation industry expert who also hails from Assam, formally started his ‘observation period’ and is likely to take charge in October.An AAI official said that as per the agreement with the Centre, the existing AAI workers will support the company for a period of 3 years. The land near the airport was also given to AAHL on lease basis for developing aviation related business and related services for a period of 50 years. In 2018, the Central government leased six AAI airports – Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru – for operations, management and development under the Public Private Partnership model. AAI official said the Centre decided to increase the revenue of AAI and increase economic growth in these sectors in terms of job creation and related infrastructure.
