Bantacruz? Asks Aviation Minister To Lighten Up Mood On Navi Mumbai Airport Controversy

Thousands of local project victims and Bhumiputras will besiege the CIDCO office to register their demand for the name change

Hardeep Singh Puri

Mumbai: With the controversy over the naming of Navi Mumbai international airport gathering storm, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri took to Twitter in order to "lighten the mood a bit" by considering the name "Bantacruz."

In a scenario where political parties are engaged in a bitter fight, Aviation Minister got in to humorous mode and tweet old post of actor and singer Suchitra Krishnamoorthi on Twitter: "Banta sent a letter to the Aviation Minister: Sir, it's my humble request that the new airport in Navi Mumbai should be named 'Bantacruz' since my brother already has one airport named after him. 'Santacruz'!!!"

In the micro-blogging platform, Puri referred to Santa Banta joke saying: "The Ministry of Civil Aviation receives many requests for naming & renaming of existing & under construction airports. To lighten the mood a bit, I want to inform my friend Banta that his formal proposal has not yet been received by us!"

Navi Mumbai International Airport is currently under construction at Ulwe Kopar-Panvel, which will be the second international airport in Mumbai along with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

Meanwhile, the Navi Mumbai police department has deployed thousands of personnel at various locations in the city to maintain law and order ahead of the protest being planned at City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) Bhavan on Thursday to demand to name Navi Mumbai international airport after Project Affected Persons (PAP) leader DB Patil. Thousands of local project victims and Bhumiputras will besiege the CIDCO office to register their demand for the name change. Protestors, despite being denied permission by the police, have threatened to come out in large numbers on Thursday.

The Maharashtra government and City and Industrial Development Corporation of Mumbai (CIDCO) had already announced that the airport will be named after late Bal Thackeray, founder of the Shiv Sena party which is part of the ruling alliance in the state.