Airport mired in name game

Hyderabad: Even as the new international airport at Shamshabad is all set for a launch, confusion continues to cloud the naming of the airport. Managers of the GMR group, lead partner in the consortium which will operate the airport, say they have not thought about the name yet. "We have been busy in building the airport and putting everything in place. This matter has not cropped up yet," says the official spokesperson of the GMR group.
Officials in the AP government - which is an equity holder in the project - say there has been no discussion at all on the subject. "There has been nothing on the files and no meetings on this subject," says Manmohan Singh, secretary (infrastructure) of the AP government.
Notwithstanding all this however some other wing of the government has put up sign boards marking the way to Shamshabad as the path to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.
With Y S Rajasekhara Reddy being a fan of the late Rajiv Gandhi and having displayed a penchant for naming all his development programmes after him, it is but natural that the AP chief minister will press for the airport being named after the late prime minister.
For the time being the airport is referred to in official files and communications as international airport or the Hyderabad international airport.
20/02/08 K V Ramana/Times of India

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Categories: airports Feb 2008, New Feb 2008