Sena workers damage 'Adani Airport' signboard in Mumbai

A group of Shiv Sena workers Monday allegedly ransacked an 'Adani Airport' neon signboard near the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj close to the airport in Mumbai, a police official said.

They shouted slogans in protest against the 'Adani Airport' display when the airport is named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Some of the workers later gathered on the nearby Western Express Highway, briefly affecting the traffic movement on the city's arterial north-south road, the official said.

He said some of those involved in the incident were detained and the process of registering a case was underway.

A spokesperson for the Adani Airport Holdings Limited said, "In light of the incidents around Adani Airports branding at the Mumbai International Airport, we firmly assure that AAHL has merely replaced the previous branding with Adani Airports branding and that no change has been made to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport's branding or positioning at the terminal."

"The branding at CSMIA is in compliance with the norms and guidelines of the Airport Authority of India. The AAHL will continue to adhere to all the guidelines laid out by the government in the interest of the aviation community at large," the statement said.

The Adani Group last month said it has taken over from the GVK group the management of Mumbai international airport, the country's second busiest after Delhi's IGIA by both passenger and cargo traffic.

With the addition of Mumbai international airport Limited, the Adani Airport Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Adani Enterprises Ltd, will now control 33 per cent of India's air cargo traffic, the company had said in a statement.

A similar issue regarding the branding at the airports -- which are being managed by the Adani group -- was raised around seven months back by the Centre-run AAI.

Three committees of the AAI in January found the Adani group to be in violation of branding norms, prescribed in the concession agreements, at the airports in Ahmedabad, Mangaluru and Lucknow that the conglomerate took over last year.

Consequently, the Adani group started making changes in brandings and displays in order to bring them in accordance with the concession agreements that they had signed with the AAI.

As on June 29, the changes in brandings and displays were in process at Lucknow and Manglauru airports and had been completed at the Ahmedabad airport, the AAI stated.

The Adani group won the bids to run the airports in Lucknow, Mangaluru and Ahmedabad in February 2019. Its companies -- Adani Lucknow International Airport Limited, Adani Mangaluru International Airport Limited and Adani Ahmedabad International Airport Limited -- signed the concession agreements with the AAI in February 2020.

These three companies -- which work under AAHL -- then took charge of airports in October and November 2020.

The AAI in December 2020 found the brandings and displays at the three airports not in accordance with the concession agreements. Therefore, it wrote letters to ALIAL, AMIAL and AAIAL, asking them to take "corrective measures".

However, these companies in late December responded that they have not violated the branding norms of the agreements.

A month later, the AAI formed three separate committees to carry out "joint survey" of all hoardings and displays at the three airports and check if they are in compliance with the concession agreements.

Each committee had four members: one executive of the Adani group company that is operating the airport, one official of the Centre-run Engineering Projects (India) Limited and two officials of the AAI.

In late January, the committee formed on the Lucknow airport submitted its report.

It said, "The joint inspection committee found that airport name hoardings displayed by concessionaire at the airport entrance and exit roads has also got Adani Airports written on both sides of Lucknow International Airport hoardings, which is in violation of concession agreement no. 5.15.2."

The committee also found that the name and logo of the AAI was not equally and prominently displayed in other displays where the concessionaire intends to display its own name, which was again violation of the Article 5.15.2 of the concession agreement.

Other two committees found similar violations at the airports in Mangaluru and Ahmedabad.