Pune: State govt in the cabinet meeting on Monday approved the renaming of the city's Lohegaon airport as ‘ Jagatguru Sant Tukaram Maharaj International Airport'. The proposal will now be sent to Centre for an approval. Last month, minister of state (MoS) for civil aviation and Pune Member of Parliament (MP) Murlidhar Mohol met Chief Minister Eknath Shinde pertaining to the renaming proposal , and requested him to send the same to central govt.
Mohol told TOI, "Sant Tukaram Maharaj spent his childhood in Lohegaon, so they have a close relation. Hence, we submitted this proposal to state govt, accompanied by the wishes of villagers and the entire warkari community in Maharashtra. With approval from state govt, the proposal will now go to central govt and the Cabinet will take a decision in this regard.
" In 2016, then-CM Devendra Fadnavis, while announcing the new Pune airport in Purandar taluka, had named it as the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje International Airport. However, the project is still to see the light of day. Deepak Shastri, an aviation expert and former director of the Pune and Shirdi airports, welcomed the renaming move and said, "There has been too much politicization and controversy over renaming the airport.
Hopefully, this development will settle the issue once and for all.".