New Delhi:
Airports of the future may no longer be named after national heroes, but the cities they are built in. This, sources said, is likely to be the Narendra Modi government's decision in the wake of the controversy over the naming of a new terminal at Chandigarh airport.
Terminals within the airports, though, can be named after freedom fighters, sources said.
Currently a chunk of India's airports are named after national heroes and political leaders -- including Delhi's Indira Gandhi International, Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal, Kolkata's Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International, Bangalore's Kempegowda International and Lucknow's Chaudhury Charan Singh International.
A source said the move is meant to avoid controversy over the naming of the airports.
Lately, one brewed over a new terminal of the Chandigarh airport, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated on September 11.
The Punjab government wanted it to be named after Bhagat Singh. But Haryana's BJP government wanted it to be named after a party leader and RSS functionary, Mangal Sein.
The Manohar Khattar government, however, bowed out after its wishes were seen as an insult to the national icon, who was from Punjab, and protests were held across the state .
Chief Minister Khattar and transport minister Ram Bilas Sharma went on record saying they have no problems with its being named after Bhagat Singh.
But the terminal so far is nameless - the Centre will take a call on the issue in another 10 days, junior aviation minister Mahesh Sharma told NDTV.