Uttarakhand Cabinet on Saturday approved a proposal to rename the Dehradun’s Jolly Grant airport after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The proposal will now be tabled in the state assembly in the session starting from December 4. If cleared in the assembly, it will be sent to the Centre for approval.
In a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, along with this proposal, the cabinet also gave its nod to the setting up of the Uttarakhand State Agency for Public Services to ensure time-bound delivery of services and redressal of complaints, said government spokesperson Madan Kaushik.
The cabinet has cleared a total of 27 proposals, including convening a three-day Winter Session of the Assembly from December 4, the official added.
The Jolly Grant Airport, which is named after the area where it is situated, belongs to the Airport Authority of India (AAI). It was built in the year 1974. The AAI suspended the flight operations at the airport between March 2007 and March 2008 in order to execute its airport modernisation plans.
After former Prime minister, Vajpayee’s death in August, this year, BJP leader and Uttarakhand assembly speaker, Prem Chand Aggarwal had written a letter to Chief Minister, Trivendra Rawat requesting that the airport is renamed after Vajpayee as a tribute to him for his contributions to the state.
Since the veteran leader breathed his last on August 16, everyone has been finding ways to honour the stalwart in their own way. Several state governments, municipal corporations and leaders, with the Centre’s approval, have decided to rechristen names of several sites in their areas of power to pay a tribute to the late politician.
Jharkhand, which was carved out of Bihar in November 2000 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister, to honour the BJP leader, has decided to rename seven institutes and sites in the state.
According to reports, a few North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) councillors sent a proposal to the mayor for renaming the historic Ramlila Maidan in the national capital after the late prime minister.
Previously, UP’s Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) members announced the renaming of the iconic Hazratganj crossing after Vajpayee. In Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that archetype Sabarmati Ghat will be named after Atal Ji and will be hence named as ‘Atal Ghat’.
As a mark of respect, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh too announced that the upcoming capital of Chhattisgarh, Naya Raipur, will be known as Atal Nagar.
Ambala city’s MLA Aseem Goel has also announced that the planetarium, which is to be constructed at Bal Bhawan in the city, will be named after late prime minister Atal Bihari.
Not only India but places across the globe have acknowledged and have decided to pay their tribute to the late politician. At the 11th World Hindi Conference in Mauritius, the country’s Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced that the ‘Cyber Tower’ which was set up with the help of Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led Indian government will now be named after him.