The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to name the Agartala airport in Tripura after Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore, the erstwhile ruler of the state.
The airport was constructed in 1942 on the land donated by the maharaja. “As a visionary ruler, who had travelled across the globe, he took several steps for the all-round development of Tripura,” an official statement said. There was a long-pending demand of the people of Tripura as well as the Tripura government for paying tribute to the maharaja, it said.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval to rename the Agartala Airport as Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore Airport, Agartala, the statement said.
The maharaja, who ascended the throne of the erstwhile Tripura princely state in 1923, was an “enlightened and benevolent ruler.” The airport is the second busiest airport in the north east and provides crucial air connectivity to Tripura.
