Dharavi makeover plan caught in poll crossfire

Redevelopment of the slums has become a political flashpoint with promises of housing reforms dividing residents. A ground report by PRACHI PISAL

- PRACHI PISAL

The narrow, unclean bylanes of Dharavi slums are busier than usual amid campaigns in the ongoing Maharashtra Assembly elections.

The constituency, Dharavi, has become a political hotspot, with the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) issue raised by Opposition parties.

The slums, spread across 600 acres of prime land in Central Mumbai, are being redeveloped by the Adani group after it won the auction in 2022 to do so.

The auction was conducted by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

In several speeches, Uddhav Thackeray, previous Maharashtra chief minister and president of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), and now an Opposition leader, has threatened to cancel the award if his party comes to power.

This Thackeray said in a rally, attended by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, last week in the Bandra Kurla Complex, just a few kilometers from the slums.

Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL) is executing the project.

The DRP/Slum Rehabilitation Project (SRA) is a special body formed by the Maharashtra government.

The Adani group has an 80 per cent stake in the DRPPL, while the rest is held by the state government.

Over one million people live in conditions not fit for human habitation.

It has attracted migrants owing to its low rent.

As the population grew, the single-storey slums converted into as high as four-floor houses, which are unsafe.