Maharashtra government approves renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad districts

MUMBAI: The two-member cabinet of the Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis government on Saturday approved the renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad districts as well as the Navi Mumbai international airport.
The chief minister and deputy chief minister justified the proposal being approved twice saying the earlier Maha Vikas Aghadi government was already in a minority and had been asked to prove its majority by the governor and hence could not have taken the decision. When the minutes of the cabinet meeting came for confirmation before the new cabinet the executive was directed to bring a fresh proposal.
Shinde said the proposal to rename Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar, Osmanabad as Dharashiv and the Navi Mumbai international airport as D B Patil international airport had been approved by a cabinet that has the backing of 162-164 MLAs.
Fadnavis said the proposal would now be brought as a resolution before the state legislature and once it was passed it would be sent to the Centre for its approval.
Shinde who was the urban development minister in the MVA government as head of CIDCO had moved a proposal before the CIDCO board to name the airport after Sena leader late Balasaheb Thackeray.
Shinde justified the decision saying the circumstances then demanded it though representations had been received from various delegations to name the airport after D B Patil and there was a lot of discussion on it.
"D B Patil has made a public contribution to the public cause and keeping in mind the people's sentiments we decided to name the airport after him," he said.