It's hardly a week when thousands of villagers from Raigad, Thane, and Palghar district staged protests to name the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport after late D B Patil, the Navi Mumbai unit of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has now demanded to name the headquarter of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) after Chhatrapati Sambhaji.
Belapur BJP MLA Manda Mhatre said that she has already given letters to state chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, deputy CM Ajit Pawar, speaker of the legislative assembly, chief secretary and NMMC’s municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar to name the civic headquarter after Chhatrapati Sambhaji.
Sambhaji Bhosale was the second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire during the 17th century.
Mhatre said that the new generation should know Chhatrapati Sambhaji Mahrasj and his contribution to the country. “Navi Mumbai is a cosmopolitan city and people from across the country reside and they will get to know if the name of civic headquarter is given after him,” said Mhartre. She added that even after 29 years of its formation, the name of the NMMC headquarter has not been given.
Last week, around 20,000 people assembled near Belapur to demand the naming of NMIA after late D B Patil. Despite not having permission from the police, under the banner of the All-Party Action Committee, consisting a number of politicians staged protests. The NRI police later registered an FIR against 18000 people under various sections.
