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Fact Check: No, Name Of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport Has Not Been Changed To Adani Airport
Writer: Yusha Rahman
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India, 18 Dec 2020 1:16 PM GMT | Updated 18 Dec 2020 1:17 PM GMT
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Many Congress leaders have shared a photo of a billboard with a claim that the Government of India has renamed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport as Adani Airport. The Logical Indian Fact-Check team investigates the claim.
After NDA ruled Central government announced the privatisation of Public Sector Industries in India, opposition and netizens have been alleging that the loyalty of the ruling government lies towards the corporate giants like Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
In context to this, an image of a billboard is being shared where one can see 'Welcome to Ahmedabad' (with 'Adani Airports' written on the sides) written on it. It is being widely shared on social media with the claim that the name of Ahmedabad airport has been changed from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport to Adani airport.
Madhya Pradesh Congress on December 13 tweeted the viral image with the caption, "अहमदाबाद एयरपोर्ट का नाम- सरदार वल्लभभाई पटेल से अडानी एयरपोर्ट हुआ..! "जब तक मोदी सरकार आपकी किडनी नहीं बेच देती, मुँह पर मास्क लगाकर रखें" (Which translates in English as, "Ahmedabad Airport renamed as Adani Airport from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel ..! "Till the time, Modi government doesn't sell your kidney, keep a mask on your face").
अहमदाबाद एयरपोर्ट का नाम-
— MP Congress (@INCMP) December 13, 2020
— सरदार वल्लभभाई पटेल से अडानी एयरपोर्ट हुआ..!
"जब तक मोदी सरकार आपकी किडनी नहीं बेच देती, मुँह पर मास्क लगाकर रखें" pic.twitter.com/hN1raeakT0
Amit Chavda, President of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, also tweeted the photo.
सरदार विरोधी, अदानी प्रेमी भाजपा
— Amit Chavda (@AmitChavdaINC) December 12, 2020
सरदार पटेल के नाम पे सिर्फ अपने राजकाज को चमकाने वाली भ्रष्ट भाजपा सरकार ने अपने उद्योगपति मित्र की खिदमत में गुजरात के अहमदाबाद एयरपोर्ट से देश के लौहपुरुष सरदार वल्लभभाई पटेल का नाम गायब कर के अदानी एयरपोर्ट कर दिया। #बेशर्म_भाजपा pic.twitter.com/zhjz4EC9s8
Manickam Tagore, AICC in-charge of INC Telangana, also shared the post
Narender & Shah gave #Adani #Ahmedabad Airport, which Congress gave as Sardar Airport. Now Adani replaced Sardar 🙄🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/1qM86pKBDw
— Manickam Tagore .B🇮🇳✋மாணிக்கம் தாகூர்.ப (@manickamtagore) December 12, 2020
Many people on Facebook have also shared the image with a similar caption.
Claim:
The name of Ahmedabad Airport has been changed from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport to Adani Airport.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian searched for Ahmedabad Airport on the website of Airport Authority of India (AAI) and found two images on the site mentioning the name of the airport as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
On November 7, Airports Authority of India (AAI) has tweeted about the exchanging of the memorandum between AAI and Adani group, and handing over of the Ahmedabad airport to Adani group for the purpose of operations and management for next 50 years. AAI tweeted:
On 6th Nov'20 at 00:00 midnight, #AAI's senior officials exchanged Memorandum & handed over Ahmedabad @ahmairport to @AdaniOnline. Sh A.K Verma, APD, AMD exchanged symbolic key in accordance with concession agreement & future development. pic.twitter.com/vKECyC6u49
— Airports Authority of India (@AAI_Official) November 7, 2020
Handing over of @ahmairport to Adani Ahmedabad International Airport Ltd was done by Sh G. Chandramouli, @aairedwr, SIU team in the presence of Sh Behnad Zandi, CEO, Adani Airports, Sh Ulrich Heppe, Chief Airport Officer, AMD Airport & Sh Jeet Adani, VP Finance. pic.twitter.com/DNoM2hCSAr
— Airports Authority of India (@AAI_Official) November 7, 2020
An article by The Times of India on November 7, 2020 said that AAI has handed over the operations of Ahmedabad airport to Adani group for the period of 50 years. One keyframe of the video of the airport embedded in the article showed a billboard that had "Welcome to Sardar Vallabhai Patel International Airport" in the middle, and Adani airport on the sides.
According to a report by NDTV published on November 1, 2020, the government of India had privatised six Airports of India in February 2019 - Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati. The operation, management and development of these airports will be looked after by the Adani corporations.
We also found an image of Mangalore Airport on a website, Mangalorean published on October 21, 2020. Since Mangalore airport was also handed over to Adani enterprises for maintenance, that too had the logo, Adani Airports in the side of the billboard.
In an article published on Navbharat Times on November 2, 2020, an image of a board at the Lucknow airport had Adani Airports written on the top of it.
Thus, the 'Adani airport' written on the board is not the name of the airport but a logo of the Adani enterprises.
AltNews has earlier fact-checked the claim.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
Also Read: Fact Check: No, Indian Railways Is Not Owned By Adani Wilmar
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