In a late evening development on Thursday, the Chairman, Airports Authority of India, V P Agarwal was removed. He is being replaced by the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Alok Sinha, who has been given additional charge of the new post.

Sinha handles airport related matters in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The move comes less than three weeks after Agarwal was given an extension after his initial term came to an end at the end of December last year.

The move comes as the Government has set on fast track the move to involve the private sector in the modernisation of six airports including those in Chennai and Kolkata.

The AAI chairman is not the first senior official in the civil aviation sector to have seen a change. Earlier this month, another Joint Secretary from the Ministry Prabhat Kumar was made Directorate General of Civil Aviation replacing Arun Mishra who is to take up an international post with the International Civil Aviation Organisation in Bangkok.

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