Published On: Wed, Jun 4th, 2025

Rehabilitate us within Dharavi itself, say residents | Mumbai News – Times of India


Rehabilitate us within Dharavi itself, say residents

Mumbai: With more than one lakh structures being numbered in Dharavi, residents are demanding that all of them be rehabilitated in Dharavi itself. Residents demanded that Annexure II, the list of eligible and ineligible slum dwellers, be published so that people know the exact number of households that will be rehabilitated in Dharavi. Industry owners are apprehensive that many units will have to shut given the fact that the area they will get after redevelopment will be a mere 225 square feet while today they have expansive areas to work and for labourers to live.At a brainstorming session organised by the Dharavi Bachao Andolan at Mahim on Tuesday, speaker after speaker demanded all of Dharavi be rehabilitated in-situ and the lands outside be utilised for commercial exploitation and cross-subsidise the redevelopment project.Raju Korde, founder of Dharavi Bachao Andolan (DBA), said the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme Act requires that the developer build as many structures as there are existing on the ground floor in a slum, irrespective of it being eligible or ineligible. “This is because the law allows a person to challenge their ineligible status right up to the time the project is completed. Thereafter, the excess tenements are handed over to the land-owning authority to be used as tenements for project-affected persons,” said Korde.Nasirul Haque, a DBA member, said, “The plan came out of the blue, no opinions from the people were taken. Even the survey was not complete.” Residents said they do not know how many are going to be moved out and where, whether it will be on the dumping ground or on salt pan lands. The govt, they said, has not given information on the sale component, the balance floor space index, or the profits from the project.Architect Samidha Patil emphasised the importance of community involvement in such significant projects. “When it comes to where a person is supposed to live, their consultation should be important even in small decisions such as deciding the toilet,” she said. A legal expert with DBA said, “Like the landscapes and plans have been made for the Dharavi redevelopment project showing how they are going to beautify the area, the same plans should be made for the Deonar landfill, where the people of Dharavi are going to be relocated.” Ansar Ahmad Shaikh, vice-president, Dharavi Businessmen Association, criticised the survey process as inadequate and inconsistent. “They have surveyed electrical boxes and toilets in a few areas where it wasn’t even necessary,” he said. While a few residents have opposed the redevelopment and chosen not to participate in the surveys, the broader concern, they said, remains the patchy implementation of the process.

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