MUMBAI, Oct. 4 -- Ahead of next week's inauguration of the Navi Mumbai airport and just three days before a protest march planned by local leaders, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday assured that the new airport would be named after D B Patil. However, he couldn't say exactly when this would take place as there were certain formalities to be worked out with the central government. Fadnavis, however, assured that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to the state's proposal to name the greenfield airport after the late farmer leader, D B Patil, who had led agitations during the land acquisition process when the city of Navi Mumbai was being built. It was due to Patil's leadership that a landmark 12.5% developed land scheme for displaced villagers was offered to PAPs. Naming the airport after Patil is both symbolic recognition and a reaffirmation of their decades long struggle. Following Fadnavis's assurance, local leaders in Raigad and Thane district suspended a march planned to the airport site on October 6, demanding that the airport be named after Patil, who was also an MP from Raigad. The international airport is likely to be inaugurated by Modi on October 8. Ahead of the event, local leaders as well as farmers whose land had been acquired for various projects in Navi Mumbai, including the airport, had stepped up their demand that the airport be named after Patil. Uncertainty had arisen as there was no sign that the Union government had accepted the state's recommendation on the airport's name. However, on Friday, Fadnavis set the record straight. "When the central government granted permission for the airport's construction, it was under the name 'Navi Mumbai International Airport'. This will now be expanded to 'Loknete D B Patil Navi Mumbai International Airport'. He said it will be named exactly as per the proposal submitted by the state government. "The central government is currently finalising a policy regarding such naming proposals, which has caused the delay. Once the new policy is in place, the airport will be renamed," Fadnavis said. Along with the Navi Mumbai airport, proposals to rename the Pune airport after Jagadguru Sant Tukaram Maharaj and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad Airport) after Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj have been submitted to the central government. Similar proposals from other states are also pending. Panvel MLA Prashant Thakur said, "The resolution to name the airport after D B Patil was passed and sent to the Centre from the very first cabinet meeting of the Mahayuti government. Both houses of the legislature supported it. There is no question of any other name." Bhiwandi MP Suresh Mhatre said, "The PM has made it clear that the state's decision will prevail. The delay is only because a new policy is being framed to give states the power to make such decisions."...