Uttarakhand cabinet clears proposal to rename Dehradun's Jolly Grant airport after AB Vajpayee

DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand Cabinet on Sunday approved the renaming of Dehradun's Jolly Grant Airport after late BJP stalwart and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

According to ANI, a resolution to this effect will be passed during the Winter Session of the state assembly after which it would be sent to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for its seal of approval.

Uttarakhand Cabinet approves renaming Dehradun Aiport (Jolly Grant Airport) after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The resolution will be passed during the winter session of the state assembly and sent to Ministry of Civil Aviation. — ANI (@ANI) November 25, 2018

The proposal to rename the Jolly Grant airport after Vajpayee was approved by the state cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, state government official said.

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 “to execute its airport modernisation plan”.

After 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 be renamed after Vajpayee as a tribute to the former prime minister for his contributions to the state.

In a similar move, in the year 2016, the Uttarakhand Congress had proposed that the airport be renamed after the eighth-century philosopher Adi Shankaracharya.

If Congress leader and former Chief Minister Harish Rawat is to be believed, the proposal to rename the airport after Adi Shankaracharya remains pending with the Centre.