Union minister Kapil Patil backs demand to name Navi Mumbai airport after D B Patil

Protesters demanding the naming of the Navi Mumbai International Airport after Dinkar Balu Patil in Belapur, Navi Mumbai on June 24. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

BJP MP Kapil Patil, who was inducted in the Union cabinet in the latest reshuffle and expansion, on Friday supported the demand to name the under-construction Navi Mumbai airport after late D B Patil, a local leader.

The Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government recently announced that the greenfield project which would be an alternative to the Mumbai international airport would be named after Sena founder late Bal Thackeray.

Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Kapil Patil, Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, said the airport should be named after D B Patil. Kapil Patil, who represents Bhiwandi Lok Sabha constituency in Thane district, had made the same demand earlier while speaking in the Lok Sabha in 2015. "Sons of the soil have been demanding that the airport be named after D B Patil who fought for the rights of those affected by the project. Local people have sacrificed (their lands) for the airport. Hence their demand should be honoured," the minister said.

"We are waiting to see what stand the state government takes," he added. Several local leaders and organizations in the Thane-Raigad belt have been demanding that the airport be named for D B Patil. Talking about his inclusion in the Union cabinet, Patil said he would live up to the confidence shown in him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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