Mumbai Airport headquarters not shifting to Ahmedabad, to stay in Mumbai: Adani Group

In light of rumours about Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) and Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL), The Adani Group has clarified that Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) would remain headquartered in Mumbai itself and not shift to Adani's major group based in Ahmedabad. The Adani group took to Twitter on Tuesday, July 20 to release a statement that further mentioned the creation of jobs in the city through their 'airport ecosystem'. 

Confusion arose after a press statement by Adani Group 

The confusion about the shifting of headquarters arose after a press statement issued by the Adani group on Saturday, July 17. The statement mentioned that was decided to 'relocate the Head office of AAHL from Mumbai to Ahmedabad', further stating that it will 'foster collaborative working'. "As we look to consolidate and pursue aggressive growth of the Adani Group in the airport sector, it has been decided to relocate the Head office of AAHL from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. We believe this decision will foster collaborative working and agile decision making which is of paramount importance at this stage of our journey," it said.

Dandiya dance, shifting of HQs stirred controversy 

A traditional Gujarati dance was performed at the airport a few days back, receiving flack from social media. Even Industrialist Harsh Goenka has tweeted the video.

Reacting to it, Congress leader Sachin Rawat released a statement mentioning the strategic shift from Mumbai to Ahmedabad was being done to lower the importance of Thackeray led Maharashtra.

"This is a message from PM Modi to the people of Maharashtra. The dandiya dance performed at the airport says a lot. This exercise started 7 years ago when the International Financial Service Center was taken away from Mumbai and shifted to Gujarat. Maharashtra did not discriminate against any industry or entrepreneur. Many entrepreneurs came to Maharashtra and became a part of the state. Mumbai Airport was previously owned by GVK, an Andhra Pradesh company. GVK did not move its Mumbai airport headquarters to Andhra Pradesh or organise Kuchipudi dance at the airport,", Rawat said. 

Rawat further added that Congress has never shown any discriminatory behaviour to any of the states. "We have headquarters of many companies here in Maharashtra. Industrialists have been living in the state for years and they have become part and parcel of the state culture. This type of bias was never witnessed in the state,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the job front for locals, an NGO named Watchdog Foundation has written to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to look into the matter saying that the Adani Group was trying to deprive them of employment. The letter further mentioned that job losses cannot be tolerated by the state government especially when it has entered into a state support agreement with the airport operator. It also slammed the Adani group on grounds that the former aims to evict 80,000 slum dwellers to Mumbai Metropolitan Region outside Mumbai and use the airport for only entertainment purposes. 

(IMAGE- PTI/UNSPLASH)