Thane, Jun 24 (UNI) Several thousands of people mainly from Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts on Thursday participated in a mega protest, demanding naming of the new airport after renowned activist and late leader D B Patil.
The participants, who came from several of towns, villages, and cities in and around Navi Mumbai, planned to gherao the CIDCO Bhavan in CBD on the occasion of Patil's birth anniversary.
Apart from heavy security, the local police had barricaded all the routes leading to the CBD to ensure that there was no untoward incident during the protest.
As the protestors, many women, were not able to access the CBD, they marched around the nearby streets with banners and placards.
A sea of humans, clad in T-shirts reading 'Mi Bhumiputra' and Koli caps, swarmed in the CBD surroundings as the traffic on the route was totally blocked and diverted.
The Navi Mumbai Police Control Room stated that the entire event went off peacefully and added the blocked rods will be opened soon.
The villagers and PAPs have been since long demanding that the new airport be named after D B Patil as he had undertaken many agitations for the sake of the locals.
The agitation is spearheaded by an all-party committee, headed by Dashrath Patil, which seeks to replace Bal Thackeray's name with that of Patil.
Many sitting and former MLAs from Thane and Raigad districts participated in the protest but the conspicuous absence was of the Shiv Sena leaders.
Irrespective of the party affiliation, the leaders participated in the agitation and the BJP grabbed this opportunity to oppose the ruling Shiv Sena.
The lone MNS MLA Raju Patil also participated and supported the move.
Former Minister and BJP leader Ravindra Chavan, who also participated in the protest, told the media that the view of the BJP always has been that the airport be named after DB Patil. Also the sitting MLA Manda Mhatre said that it was the right of the locals that the airport be named after the great leader.
The local sitting and former MLAs and MPs of Raigadh also totally supported the demand and a large number of villagers singing and dancing from Uran participated in the morcha.
A meeting was also addressed by the leaders of the committee on the highway which was devoid of traffic today due to regulations.
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