State asks Centre to rename BIA

State asks Centre to rename BIA

CM B S Yeddyurappa wants it to be called Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda International Airport

BANGALORE MIRROR BUREAU



If Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has his way, Bangalore International Airport (BIA) will be renamed as Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda International Airport.
“The state government will request the Centre to name BIA as Nadaprabhu Kempegowda International Airport,” the CM told the Legislative Assembly on Friday. The government zeroed in on Kempe Gowda, founder of Bangalore, after the Joint House Committee recommended three names - Kempe Gowda, Tipu Sultan and Sir M Visvesvaraya - to the state government for renaming the airport.
The request comes in the backdrop of a civil aviation ministry order that states that all new international airports should be named after the respective cities.
This is not the first time that the question of rechristening BIA has come up. Devesh Agarwal, the chairman of Infrastructure Committee of Bangalore Chamber of Industries and Commerce, said, “I am ambivalent towards it. But thankfully the airport is not being renamed after any of the current politicians. Kempe Gowda is the founder of this city and it makes sense to name the airport after him. He is the right person who needs to honoured.” But BIA authorities refrained from commenting on this. All they said was “We have yet to receive any intimation of the name change.”