Chandigarh airport is now Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport

Chandigarh, Sep 28: The international airport here has been renamed Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh, after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh on his birth anniversary on Wednesday, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an announcement in this regard.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the chief guest at the event, said she felt honoured to be present at the event and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for deciding to rename the airport after the iconic freedom fighter.

"Through these small gestures, we are remembering the immense sacrifice the young men and women like Shaheed Bhagat Singh made during the freedom struggle," she said.

Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Union minister VK Singh, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij and Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher were present at the event.

Mann also thanked Modi for renaming the airport and sought more international flights.

PM Modi, in his Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast on Sunday, announced that the airport would be renamed after Shaheed Bhagat Singh as a tribute.

The 115th birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh is being celebrated on Wednesday.