The Maharashtra cabinet approved a proposal to rename the forthcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport in honor of the late DB Patil, who staged a number of farmers' and landowners' protests in the Panvel district during the 1970s and 1980s when the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) had bought land there.

After thousands of protesters marched to the CIDCO headquarters in Belapur to press their demands that the future airport be named after the local hero, the state government passed a decision a few weeks later.

Numerous protests have been held in the Navi Mumbai, Raigad, Thane and Palghar districts for about a year against an earlier proposal to rename the airport in honor of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray.