Happiest moment, says D B Patil's family as Navi Mumbai airport is set to be inaugurated

Mumbai, Oct 7 (PTI) As the Navi Mumbai International Airport is set to be inaugurated on Wednesday, it would be the "happiest" occasion for the family of late Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) leader D B Patil, whose name it will bear.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis last week made it clear that the airport will named for late Dinkar Balu Patil who is credited for ensuring that project-affected persons in the region received rightful compensation when the planned city of Navi Mumbai came up.

"When we heard about this, it was the happiest moment of our whole life, for my wife, son Anoop and all our family, " Atul Patil, son of the late leader, told PTI Videos on Tuesday.

"When CM Devendra Fadnavis announced it officially that no name other than that of D B Patil will be used, and he had spoken to the PM and finalised it, our joy knew no bounds," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the greenfield airport.

Besides championing the land rights of the local people, Patil was also known for his efforts to stop female foeticide, his son noted.

"Earlier, there would be sex determination tests, which led to female foeticide....it was extremely unfortunate that a girl was killed before being born. The law against sex determination was enacted, and it is a big achievement for women. There are many high-ranking women officials now. Personally for me, it is the greatest thing he did," said Atul Patil.

It was the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray which first proposed that the Navi Mumbai airport to be named after D B Patil, he said.

"Later, when Eknath Shinde was the CM and Devendra Fadnavis deputy CM, they passed the same proposal in both houses of the legislature, and it was sent to the aviation ministry," he said.

The credit for the decision goes to everyone, including workers, land owners, people from the Agari community, OBC community, Bal Thackeray's Shiv Sena which protested demanding that the airport be named after D B Patil, Atul Patil said. PTI AG KRK