Navi Mumbai Airport Protest: Protesters Demand Naming Of The Airport After Activist D B Patil

Thousands of people from local Agri & fishing communities along with some politicians staged a protest against the City & Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) in Navi Mumbai on June 24. The protesters want the upcoming international airport to be named after late activist D B Patil. The protesters raised slogans against the CIDCO administration & asked the corporation to cancel its proposal to name the airport after late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray & instead, name it after D B Patil before August 15. They threatened to stop the airport construction work if their demand was not met. While local leaders had earlier given a call to \"gherao\" the CIDCO Bhavan at CBD Belapur, the protesters were on June 24 stopped a kilometre away from the building on a heavily-barricaded road. Considering the large gathering of protesters, the Navi Mumbai police had made adequate security arrangements to prevent any untoward incident, reported NDTV. The Maharashtra government & the CIDCO had earlier announced to name the greenfield airport after Bal Thackeray, but local leaders are demanding that it be renamed after D B Patil, who fought for the rights of Project Affected People.