Residents of Dharavi raise concerns and mount protests against the ongoing survey

Dharavi residents demonstrated and sang slogans, voicing their disapproval of the survey that is now being conducted in advance of the slum's planned reconstruction as well as their demands for residential and commercial space.

About 100 people from the huge slum, which is being redeveloped by the Adani Group-led Dharavi Redevelopment Project Private Limited (DRPPL), gathered at Dharavi main road in Mahim East for a public meeting under the Dharavi Bachao Andolan.

They insisted on seeing the Dharavi reconstruction project's master plan, 500-square-foot dwellings and a store in return for stores, land in place of commercial establishments, and the rehabilitation of the slum's pottery district, Kumbharwada, inside the redeveloped Dharavi.

The ongoing survey was likewise opposed by the locals. The requests also include the provision of 750-square-foot homes in areas under the jurisdiction of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority's (SRA) estate department and the construction of chawls by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

 A worried Dharavi Resident, Abdul Khan says, “The survey is being conducted by privately employed people who are not accompanied by government servants. They are numbering our homes and we don’t know what they are recording and whether they are even doing it correctly. There is a lot of uncertainty”.

Ulvesh Gajakosh, Coordinator of the Dharavi Bachao Andolan says, “Last week, the residents of Kumbharwada were taken in two large buses to Kurla Mother Dairy, where they will be relocated. But we don’t want to go anywhere. We need a few acres in Dharavi, which will include our residential area and commercial establishments”.

Gajakosh, one of the people attending the rally echoing the demands states, “Dharavi is a hub of small-scale industries and everyone should get their due. A private developer cannot erase an essential part of this city”.

An official allied with the Dharavi redevelopment project noted, “All ground-floor commercial tenements on and before January 1, 2000, are entitled to rehabilitation within the Dharavi Notified Area (DNA). Tenements with existing areas up to 250 sq ft will receive actual area subject to a maximum area up to 225 sq ft. Tenements above 250 sq ft area will receive 225 sq ft free of cost. They would receive areas above 250 sq ft at the cost of construction as determined by the Government of Maharashtra.”