Residents of Dharavi “ one of the biggest slum locality ofthe world “ are perturbed with the Maharashtra government's existing plan ofredevelopment and are demanding that each of the dwellings be given at least400 sq ft tenement.
“The government in its redevelopment plan has proposed togive 300 sq feet....they have also agreed to make it 400 sq ft, but for it thedwellers would have to shell out over Rs four lakh for the extra100 sq ft (forSector V)....our demand is that the government should provide it free,” DharaviBachao Andolan President and senior Shiv Sena leader Baburao Mane said.
Mane, a former MLA, said the Dharavi Redevelopment Projecthas been given status of a “special project” and 4 floor-space-indexes havebeen given for it. “The government and the builders are going to earn hugeamounts from the project. It defies logic that the government is trying to putthe burden on the original legal residents of Dharavi by charging money onredevelopment,” he added.
Mane also pointed out that the business units here too wouldbe getting 300 sq ft, even if they are now owning 2,000 sq ft. “People wouldlose livelihoods, people would lose jobs....there’ll be a big crisis....thegovernment needs to rethink and change the nature of the project,” he added.
Meanwhile, noted fisherfolk leader and Working President ofDharavi Bachao Andolan Ramkrishna Keni said that he himself has been staying inDharavi for long, since 1972. “There are many like me....I have a 400 sq fttenement and I have a photo-pass. My son has built a 400 sq ft on it and he toois a legal owner and has a photo-pass. Now, the government wants to give usjust 300 sq ft for it. Moreover, during the period of development, we wouldhave to stay in transit camps of 180 sq ft,” Keni said, adding that thedeveloper would take several years for the project to complete. “It is not feasibleand the government needs to rethink on it,” he added.
According to the plans of the Maharashtra Government’sDharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP), slums and chawls will be re-developed onthe lines of cluster development. Each resident will get a carpet area of 300sq ft tenement in the name of husband and wife. Small businesses in Dharaviwould be protected under the scheme. More than one-fifth of land in Dharavi isprivately owned.
Nearly 1.30 lakh families (14 lakh is the rough population)who are squeezed into 535 acres of land would be rehabilitated. The project isestimated to be completed within seven years of its initiation. As a matter offact, late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Dharavi in 1985, and he wantedit redeveloped. Dharavi boasts of a mini economy, thriving small scale industrycomprising of mainly leather goods industry, garments and plastic items. Due tolack of proper and adequate civic amenities, it is a case for immediate andplanned makeover.
