Maharashtra cabinet approves renaming of Aurangabad, Osmanabad cities

Tags: State News

The Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra on July 16 gave cabinet approval to rename the cities of Aurangabad and Osmanabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv respectively.

Important facts

• The decision to rename these cities was taken in the cabinet meeting of the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

• During the cabinet meeting chaired by Thackeray last month, Aurangabad was renamed as Sambhajinagar, but the Shinde government on 16 July added 'Chhatrapati' prefix to it.

• The fresh proposal approved by the cabinet will be sent to the center, after which the renaming of both the cities will be done at the divisional, district, taluka, municipal and council levels.

• The cabinet also approved the decision to name the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport after farmer leader D. B. Patil.

• The Navi Mumbai airport is being developed as a greenfield airport by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) under a public-private partnership.

Important facts about Maharashtra

• Establishment - 1st May 1960

• Official Language -  Marathi

• Neighbouring States - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Dadra And Nagar Haveli, Chhattisgarh

• Members of Parliament - Lok Sabaha 48 (Rajya Sabha seats 19)

• Legislature - Bicameral ( Assembly 289 and council 78 seats)

• Literacy - 82.91%

• Districts - 36

• Major Rivers - Tributaries of Tapti, Bhima, Godavari and Krishna

• Capital - Mumbai

• Population - 11.23 crore (2011 census)

• Chief Minister - Eknath Shinde

• Governor - Bhagat Singh Koshyari