Upper-floor Dharavi Residents shifts to Apartments on a Rental basis

Those who own tenements on higher floors in slums are usually considered to be illegal and are not eligible for slum rehabilitation programs.

Residents of Dharavi who purchased above-ground tenement buildings before November 15, 2022, will be given 300-square-foot apartments in other areas of Mumbai on a hire-purchase basis.

According to a government resolution (GR) released by the department of housing, owners of such tenements will be entitled to ownership of the apartments after paying a nominal monthly rent for 25 years. Those who own tenements on higher floors in slums are usually considered to be illegal and are not eligible for slum rehabilitation programs.

The 600-acre Dharavi slum cluster, one of the biggest in Asia, is being redeveloped by Dharavi Redevelopment Project Private Limited (DRPPL), a special purpose company in which the state government owns the remaining 20% and the Adani Group owns 80% of the shares.

The government had earlier announced that residents of Dharavi who owned ground floor tenements before January 1, 2000 would be the only ones considered eligible for rehabilitation within Dharavi, while those who were not would be placed in other parts of the city.

All other urban slum rehabilitation projects must start on January 1, 2000, and individuals who move into tenements after that date must pay Rs. 2.5 lakh in full in order to be eligible for rehabilitation.

However, the GR that the housing department released on October 4 made it clear that Dharavi residents who are not eligible would not be required to pay anything up front.