In 2022, as a part of the Dharavi cluster redevelopment project, the Gautam Adani-led Adani Realty won a tender worth R20,000 crore to transform 259 hectares of land into a “world-class township”
Dr Jyoti Eknath Gaikwad canvassing for votes in Dharavi; (right) Rajesh Shivdas Khandare, Shiv Sena candidate, on campaign trail
Once labelled Asia’s largest slum, Dharavi has seen a vertical split since the Maharashtra government’s Dharavi Redevelopment Project began here a few years ago. Many residing in this hub of small-scale businesses, self-sustaining manufacturers and skilled and unskilled labourers are insecure and fearful about losing their homes while the prospect of growth is a cause for hope in others.
ADVERTISEMENT
In 2022, as a part of the Dharavi cluster redevelopment project, the Gautam Adani-led Adani Realty won a tender worth R20,000 crore to transform 259 hectares of land into a “world-class township” and formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV), the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL), in an agreement with the existent Maharashtra government body, the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Authority, under the state’s Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA).
As the project began, one of the main contentions was that houses/structures that came up after the year 2000 were not eligible. Another was that of losing the ecosystem; many others felt it would uproot them while the few eligible for new homes in Dharavi itself were cheerful about it. The growing confusion has given politicians ammunition. This split is now being exploited by social and political activists to their benefit with Dharavi becoming a citywide burning issue.
The main contenders of the Dharavi constituency are Congress’s Dr Jyoti Eknath Gaikwad, sister of Mumbai North Central MP Varsha Gaikwad and Shinde Sena’s social worker and activist Rajesh Shivdas Khandare. While Gaikwad has been harshly criticising the Dharavi Redevelopment Project and elaborating on how the land has been sold to a businessman, Khandare has been targeting the Congress candidate, criticising “dynasty politics” while mentioning her late father and sister’s political careers. He claimed it was the Gaikwad family that first proposed the Dharavi redevelopment issue 25 years ago and never took it ahead. In the Dharavi constituency, Congress’s Varsha Gaikwad served as MLA for four consecutive terms from 2004 to 2019. Now that she has moved to the Lok Sabha, her sister, an ayurvedic doctor and head of the anatomy department of Sion Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, as per her official social media account, is being fielded in her place. Khandare has questioned Dr Jyoti’s absence in Dharavi during the pandemic when she was required the most.
Residents, in turn, clouded by the onslaught of relentless campaigns, have no clarity on the issue.
600
Area of Dharavi in acres
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
