On August 4, it was reported that a newly formed association of residents of Dharavi has lent its support to the ongoing state government-led survey of informal tenements, a precursor to the USD 3 billion Dharavi redevelopment project by the Adani Group.
The association, however, dismissed these reports and said they were misquoted.
"We have been misquoted. We are not in favour of the survey and we have not given our support at all as has been reported yesterday," said Shailendra Kamble of the Citizen and Society Development Welfare body of Dharavi residents to THE WEEK.
"We demand transparency for the residents of Dharavi. We are opposing the survey and continue to do so. The government simply wants to evict all Dharavi residents because it is hand in gloves with Adani. We do not want this industrialist to redevelop and rehabilitate us anywhere outside of our area. Whatever it is, we would like to stay where we have been staying all these past decades,” he said.
Mapping of the densely populated Dharavi is the first step and a crucial one, for the redevelopment of the entire over 600 + acres, which is likely to take over five years to complete.
The Dharavi redevelopment plan is distinct from the standard SRA scheme, ensuring that all qualifying tenement holders are offered homes of up to 350 square feet. Residents are defined as ones having proof of living in the area prior to January 1, 2000. In December last year, at a press conference organised by the Dharavi Redevelopment Committee, with representatives from diverse industries in attendance, the one sentiment expressed by all was to "allot the same space as the one the owner holds at present and that too inside the community itself" .
"We are asking for residential spaces of 425 square feet and commercial spaces that are equivalent to how much one holds at the moment," Kamble said.
In July last year, the state government formally awarded the 259-hectare Dharavi redevelopment project to the Adani Group firm and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray led a protest march against the alleged favoritism of the Dharavi redevelopment project towards the corporate firm.
"In the middle of all this, it is us the residents who will suffer. The redevelopment project will never take off and we will continue to live in misery. Although we are a self-sufficient community, we need clean water, a good home and a decent place to work," says Nadar.
Rahulkar, who continues with her sorting, unmindful of what the time is, says, "if we are plucked out of here, I do not know how we would survive. Because here inside the community people know us and give us, frail oldies, work to do and fend for ourselves. Will this be possible otherwise? I don’t think so," she says in a somber tone.
The survey, which began on March 18, 2024, has so far completed 10,000 tenements via door to door visits while counting has been done on more than 21,000 tenements. This includes residential, commercial tenements and religious structures across Dharavi. As per reports, 3-D mapping expert Genesys International Ltd will map the area while UK consultancy Buro Happold Ltd will outline the physical infrastructure needs and Boston-based Sasaki Associates Inc is in-charge of overall re-design. DRP, a Maharashtra government department, is conducting the survey along with Dharavi Redevelopment Project Private Ltd (DRPPL), a joint venture between the Government of Maharashtra and the Adani Group, to collect data from lakhs of informal tenement residents of Dharavi to help the state government determine their eligibility criteria to aid rehabilitation under the proposed redevelopment project.
