Everyone living in Dharavi, Asia's largest slum in Mumbai, should get their rightful home and it should be in Dharavi. If everyone does not get a 500-feet house in the same place, Adani's project will not be allowed in Mumbai. Shiv Sena party chief Uddhav Thackeray took this stance. Now, once again, the Dharavi rehabilitation has come into limelight.
The total area of Dharavi Redevelopment Project is 550 acres and Adani's demand for this project is as follows outside Dharavi. 1. Railway: 45 acres, 2. Mulund Zakat Naka: 18 acres, 3. Mulund Dumping Ground: 46 acres, 4. Mithagare: 283 acres, 5. Mankhurd Dumping Ground: 823 acres; 6. G Block BKC: 17 acres, 7. Mother Dairy Kurla: 21 acres, Total: 1,253 acres.
The grand alliance government of Shinde-Fadnavis-Pawar coalition is giving all the lands to Adani without any qualms by issuing new orders every day. It has become the policy of the government that the land belonging to the government will now be land belonging to Adani. So Mumbaikars should raise their voices. Under the guise of Dharavi redevelopment project, Adani is trying to swallow the whole of Mumbai. But Shiv Sena (UBT) Party will not allow it.
Uddhav Thackeray strongly criticised the Maharashtra government and reminded them that Marathi people have the full right to Mumbai and it will remain forever. Taking a dig at the state government's 'Ladki Bahin Yojana', he quipped that the government has now introduced the 'Ladka Contractor' scheme.
Narendra Modi and Amit Shah's plan is to turn Mumbai into Adani City like they hijacked the GIFT city. But this plan will not succeed. Modi and Shah should not forget the history of Mumbai. The government is taking away countless TDRs and giving them to Adani Group so that the company dominates in the rehabilitation projects in Mumbai. Mumbaikars will never tolerate this and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena will not allow it to succeed.
They are preparing to deplete the coffers of Mumbai by making adjustments for Adani in violation of the tender. It is planning to give TDR that is not mentioned in the tender and they are planning to make more such announcements with the assembly elections in mind. Dharavi, which spans 550 acres, has to be emptied by applying the criteria of the eligible and the ineligible. This is a plan to upset the civic balance in Mumbai. The mentality of some people is mouldy. Adani is trying to grab 20 land parcelss, including Kurla's Mother Dairy, Dahisar's Toll Naka and Mumbai's Mithagraha. What is Modi and Shah planning to do by doing favours for Adani.
Why are all Mumbai projects given to Adani?
Adani Group entities won the tender to redevelop the land parcels in Bandra Reclamation with a bid of Rs 30,000 crore while they also got all the rights to the Mumbai airport and are handling the Mumbai suburbs electric department. Now they are also given the Dharavi Rehabilitation Project, one of the important projects based on a revenue-sharing model.
Adani Realty won the contract by offering 22.79 per cent revenue. However, they are yet to get approval from the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRDC). Its final approval will be decided in the next meeting of MSRDC. After the board's approval, Adani Realty will provide Rs 8,000 crore as a benchmark amount to MSRDC to bring funding, permission and clearance for the project. The area is spread over 45 lakh square feet. The company can use it as a commercial or residential property.
According to MSRDC Vice Chairman and MD Anil Kumar Gaikwad, 18 companies had bid for the contract. These include Adani Realty, Godrej Properties, JSW, K Raheja Corp and L&T Realty. Larsen & Toubro had bid for an 18 per cent revenue share for the deal. L&T's total assets are Rs 84,000 crore while Adani Realty's total assets are Rs 48,000 crore. However, this project has been put in the hands of Adani.
Dharavi is also being redeveloped by Adani Group company Adani Properties. On November 29, 2022, Adani Properties won the bid for the slum redevelopment project. The company had placed a bid of Rs 5,069 crore for this. The company will conduct survey in Dharavi and give free houses to people living here before 2000. All know that more than 10 lakh people live in slums, but many questions are being raised about whether Adani will really give all of them space and if so, how much their space will be.
Adani Group companies are collecting data and biometrics to provide flats to people under redevelopment in Dharavi. In this, the details of around 10 lakh people will be collected. However, Dharavi has more residents than that and there are many questions about how they will get justice. All these issues should be sorted out before the project starts. Otherwise, Adani Properties will grab all the lands of Mumbai and the Maharashtra government will regret it forever. Believe me, it's a fact.
The author is Shiv Sena (UBT) party spokesperson and PR chief.
