Maharashtra government on Monday approved Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol's proposal to name Pune Airport as Jagadguru Sant Tukaram Maharaj Airport. The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting and now the proposal will be sent to the Centre.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Mohol thanked the Mahayuti government, consisting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He wrote, "Thank you, Mahayuti government! Thank you, Devendraji! The first step towards naming of the international airport in Pune as 'Jagadguru Sant Tukaram Maharaj Airport' has been taken today and the proposal given by me has been approved at a cabinet meeting. It will now be sent to the central government for further processing."
Mohol said he had met Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar recently and proposed the naming. "Sant Tukaram was born in Lohegaon, where Pune International Airport is located. Not only this, he spent his childhood in Lohegaon, so Lohegaon and Sant Tukaram have a very close relationship. Therefore, I submitted this proposal to the state government along with the wishes of the villagers and all the warkari community in Maharashtra. Moreover, Sant Tukaram contributed greatly to the propagation of Bhagwat Dharma and gave a new thought to the society, which is relevant even today. Therefore, giving Sant Tukaram's name to the international airport of Pune is a very common sentiment," the Pune MP wrote.
"Now this proposal approved by the state government will go to the central government and the central cabinet will soon take a decision in this regard and follow up on the matter. I believe this process will be completed soon," he further wrote.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari also spoke about this on Saturday. "After talking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we will pass this naming proposal," he said. He was speaking at an event in Pune.
