CHANDIGARH: In a bid to facilitate the Punjabi Diaspora around the world, State Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann urged the Central government on Wednesday to commence more International flights from Chandigarh's Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport.

The Chief Minister urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to bring up this issue with the Prime Minister and her counterpart in civil aviation while speaking at a ceremony to rename the airport in this city.

The Chief minister said today is the 115th birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and this day has been made memorable with the decision to name airport after the legendary martyr. 

Mann went on to say, the Union government has to start more flights from this airport. The Chief Minister claimed that in order to establish air connection from the state to countries like Canada, the US, Australia, and others, the diaspora of Punjab from all over the world has been calling for such flights.

He said that in addition to commuters from Punjab, passengers from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu-Kashmir, and other states would also profit from these flights. The state government has worked diligently to rename this airport Shaheed Bhagat Singh Airport, he said.

The airport was named after Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, for which the Chief Minister expressed his sincere gratitude to the Union government. He claimed that a long-standing request from the nation had been granted. He presented flowers as a tribute to Shaheed Bhagat Singh and stated that the young martyr is remembered not only for his bravery but also for his commitment to socialism and struggle against injustice.

The Union Finance Minister accompanied by Governor Punjab Banwari Lal Purohit, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya,  Member Parliament Kirron Kher, Union Minister General (retired) V.K. Singh, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala and Haryana Minister Anil Vij unveiled the plaque to rename the airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

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