The campaign to name Navi Mumbai International Airport after Loknete Di. Ba. Patil received a fresh push on Tuesday, with Bhiwandi MP Suresh (Ballya Mama) Mhatre calling for continued mobilisation until the demand is accepted.
Mhatre was speaking at the foundation programme of the Sagari Bhumiputra Mahasangh, where he described Di. Ba. Patil as the “breath, pride and self-respect” of the local sons-of-the-soil community. He said the airport naming issue was not limited to a name change but was connected to the identity and rights of people whose land has been acquired for major development projects.
The demand to name Navi Mumbai International Airport after Di. Ba. Patil has been raised several times. Mhatre said the former parliamentarian and Leader of the Opposition had consistently fought for the interests of local residents. He argued that Di. Ba. Patil’s public and political work justified naming the airport after him.
Mhatre indicated that the movement would determine its next course of action in the coming period. He urged supporters not to remain quiet until the airport was named after the leader, according to the report published by Loksatta – Thane.
The airport naming demand is unfolding alongside wider concerns over the treatment of communities affected by infrastructure and urban development projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Addressing the gathering, Mhatre questioned why local landowners should be treated only as project-affected people when large projects are built using their land.
“We are called project-affected people, but why can we not be project owners?” he asked, raising questions about whether land contributors receive a meaningful stake in the projects developed on or around their former holdings.
Mhatre also said there was a need to examine whether local residents who give land for development projects receive adequate access to employment and business opportunities created by those projects. His remarks placed the airport naming issue within a broader debate over local participation in the economic benefits of infrastructure expansion.
The programme also addressed the long-pending issue of gaothan expansion. No new decision or official timeline on either the airport naming proposal or gaothan expansion was cited in the report. The next steps for the proposed movement are expected to be decided by the organisers in the coming period.
