The opposition to the rehabilitation of project-affected persons (PAPs) from Dharavi continues, with residents from areas of Mulund, Malad and Kurla hesitant about integrating people from the slum and wary about the pressure it will cause on the already-burdened resources of land, water and electricity. In 2022, as part of the Dharavi cluster redevelopment project the tender for the 259 hectare, Rs 20,000 crore project went to Adani Realty, which was assigned with the task of transforming the Slum, known to be the biggest in Asia, into a "world class township."
However, over the past two years several issues have come up, while many of those have been addressed in due course, the one pertaining to the rehabilitation of the residents continues to be a heated debate. Residents of Mulund East are aggressively opposing the relocation on the grounds of crumbling civic infrastructure. Dharavi residents, for sure, don't want to move out of the area. Ever since Adani Properties was awarded the right to redevelop the slum, many residents have been worrying about their future. Over the last few years, several thousand protesters marched to the Adani Group offices in Mumbai, raising questions about the Rs 23,000 crore redevelopment project.
The sheer scale of the number of people living in Dharavi has created a market which runs on the entrepreneurial spirit of its people. It drives diverse manufacturing industries such as leather, pottery, garments, food production and printing. As per reports, Dharavi's entrepreneurial people contribute close to a billion dollars a year (Rs 8,300 crore). There are numerous single room factories of various kinds, and this is also the hub of production for many luxe fast fashion companies based abroad.
People are concerned that they could be thrown out of the prime property. The sentiment is such that the locals from this pocket wish to remain here where they've spent their lives. They would rather compromise on the space that will be allotted to them than move out of Dharavi altogether.
In Kurla, residents say they would rather have a garden and recreation ground on the 10.4 hectare piece of land which has now been designated for rehabilitation of Dharavi slum dwellers. The land parcel, strategically located along the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road, LTT Kurla Terminus, Mumbai Metro Yellow Line 2B, and the Harbour Line, was initially reserved for infrastructure financing. In Malad too, residents of the Aksa and Bhati villages have been opposing to the relocation of Dharavi residents there arguing that Dharavi residents should be resettled where they belong and that their coming in will "add unnecessary pressure on existing civic infrastructure and amenities which are anyway strained and meant for the fisherfolk community that has been residing here since the past many decades."
As per an academic paper titled, 'Transforming Dharavi: Charting a Path for Slum Redevelopment in Mumbai,” author Forid Alam says that to address the challenges faced by slum communities, a multifaceted approach is needed. These include the implementing steps to mitigate fragmentation within the slum community and alleviating overcrowding. There is also a need to explore alternative housing options acceptable to the residents of the slum.
