The Maharashtra cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray approved the contentious proposals of renaming Aurangabad and Osmanabad as well as the new upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport, here on Wednesday.
Accordingly, Aurangabad and Osmanabad shall be rechristened as ‘Sambhajinagar’ and ‘Dharashiv’, respectively, in deference to the wishes of many locals and political groups.
The Navi Mumbai International Airport — currently being constructed by the Adani Group in adjoining Raigad to decongest Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai — shall be renamed after the late ‘Dinkar Balu Patil’, a prominent leader of the coastal Konkan belt, instead of the Shiv Sena founder, the late Balasaheb Thackeray, as earlier contemplated.
