Villagers from the Raigad, Thane, Palghar and Mumbai districts under the banner of Navi Mumbai International Airport All-Party Action Committee will stop the ongoing work of the airport on January 24. The committee has given CIDCO an ultimatum to name the proposed after late socialist D B Patil or they will intensify their protests.
On January 13, the birth anniversary of Late D B Patil, son-of-soil or the villagers will assemble in their respective areas to celebrate the anniversary and chalk out the further plan of action.
BJP’s Panvel MLA Prashant Thakur, who is also working president of the NMIA All-Party Action Committee said that the name of the airport should be after Late D B Patil, and villagers have been demanding for a decade. However, CIDCO and the state government are deliberately ignoring villagers’ demands. “We have already discussed the issue with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. However, both the CIDCO and the state government are deliberately ignoring the sentiments of the son of soils (Bhumiputra). He added that they will continue their fight till the name of the airport is not given after Late D B Patil.
During the celebration of the anniversary function, members of the NMIA All-Party Action Committee said that an ultimatum will be issued to the government to sort out all these issues. “CIDCO should cancel its earlier resolution and name the airport after Patil,” said former MLC Ramseth Thakur.
MLA Mahesh Baladi also joined in villagers' protest, he said that getting the name of the airport after Patil is villagers’ right. “We will wait till January 23 ann then intensify agitation to stop airport work,” said Baldi.
Last year, the police had registered FIR against thousands of villagers for assembling without permission. Apart from All-Party Action Committee, 27 villagers have formed another group to put pressure on the state government to get their demand met.
