Shiv Sena workers on Monday vandalised and removed boards naming Mumbai airport as Adani airport.
As per the reports, Adani name was to be put on board after Gautam Adani’s Adani Group got the management of Mumbai airport.
However, Shiv Sena, a member of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra, opposed the move of renaming Mumbai airport after the Adani
Group.
The party said that the name is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Airport & Adani group has no right to change the name.
A board named Adani Airport was put up at the VIP gate of the Kalina area of Mumbai Airport. However, brandings existed earlier as well when GVK was handling the airport. Further, Sena claimed that they had received several complaints of the airport being named after Adani and therefore removed it.
Talking about thE matter an Adani Airports Holding Limited (AAHL) spokesperson said, “In light of the incidents around Adani Airports branding at the Mumbai International Airport, we firmly assure that AAHL has merely replaced the previous branding with Adani Airports branding and that no change has been made to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport’s branding or positioning at the terminal. The branding at CSMIA is in compliance with the norms and guidelines of Airport Authority of India (AAI). AAHL will continue to adhere to all the guidelines laid out by the government in the interest of the aviation community at large.”
Significantly, in the last few years, major investments have been made by the Adani Group in the aviation sector. Many of the country’s major airports are now operated by the Adani Group. In July itself, the operation of Mumbai’s International Airport came completely to the Adani Group.
Gautam Adani had tweeted. Adani had taken over the management of Mumbai airport from GVK on July 13, 2021. It had installed boards of Adani Airport on the campus.
The Adani Group controls 74 per cent stake in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, with 50.5 per cent stakes being bought from GVK Group and 23.5 per cent from minority partners, including Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), and Bidvest Group.