State government asked for the delay

State government asked for the delay
New Delhi, DHNS:
The Election Commission is understood to have instructed the civil aviation ministry to delay the launch of the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) on a request from the State government to do so as it wanted additional police/security forces to be deployed at the airport.

This was apparently because of the demonstrations that have been taking place in Bangalore both for keeping open the existing HAL Airport as well as the demand for naming of the airport after Bangalore founder Kempe Gowda. Since more forces were needed to tackle any contingency situation, a day’s delay would help the authorities to mobilise forces from in and around Bangalore as well as from other states, sources in the ministry revealed..

The sources made it clear that the EC had no reservations against the airport opening on May 23.

The delay took both the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as well as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) by surprise. DGCA Director General Kanu Gohain declined to go into the reasons for the delay.

“We have been taken by surprise. From our end, we had informed the ministry that we are fully equipped for the launch,” AAI sources too pointed out.