After months of sustained protests by activists, the tag ‘Adani airports’ was removed from the name boards of the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA). The original name boards, prior to the Adani group taking over the handling of operations of the airport, have now been restored. The logo of Airports Authority of India (AAI) was restored on the welcome boards of the airport.
For the unversed, soon after the AAI handed over the airport to Adani Mangaluru International Airport Ltd last year in October for 50-year airport operation, management and development, the boards at the airport were changed. The AAI logo was taken off and it was replaced by Adani Airports. Changes were also made on Google Map where it was listed as ‘Mangaluru International Airport by Adani Airports’.
Social Activist Dilraj Alva stated that Adani group had changed the name, adding ‘Adani airports’ to the name boards after it took over the handling operations. However, an RTI reply revealed that there was no provision to change the airport name as per the agreement for operations and maintenance of the airport. A legal notice was served in March this year to the AAI and the MIA director questioning the ‘Adani’ tag attached to the name boards.
“The change of boards and on Google Maps was in contravention of Article 5.15 of agreement that bars concessionaire from branding itself or its shareholders in any manner, including through advertisement, and display boards”
It is worth adding that last month, a row happened over Adani’s branding at Mumbai Airport. Shiv Sena opposed renaming the Mumbai airport after the Adani Group and the party’s workers stage protest claiming ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s name being obliterated’. Shiv Sena workers vandalized and removed boards naming Mumbai airport as Adani airport.
Shiv Sena 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.
Information credits to Timesnownews.
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