(PICS/Sayyed Sameer Abedi)
Nilesh Kamble, a Kurla resident, stated the protest was not against the project but rather for the demand that Dharavi residents should be rehoused within Dharavi. Residents are demanding a botanical garden to replace the dairy land, which they believe would benefit the local environment.
In June 2024, the state government approved a proposal to transfer the land to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt. Ltd. The state government’s Department of Land Records conducted the survey to determine the land's boundaries for the project.
An official from the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority mentioned the proposal will be submitted once the land’s boundaries are finalised. Congress leader and MP Varsha Gaikwad joined the protest, expressing her support for the demand of a botanical garden.
Gaikwad criticised the large police presence deployed to suppress the protest, calling it a suppression of the people’s democratic rights. Protesters voiced concerns that the increased migration due to the redevelopment would overburden the local infrastructure in Kurla.
Locals of Nehru Nagar and Kurla East gathered in significant numbers to oppose the survey and proposed redevelopment. Despite opposition, state government officials attempted to clear the plot, but faced resistance from the locals.
Phone calls and messages to Navbharat Mega Developers Pvt. Ltd. (the contractors of the project) went unanswered during the course of the protest. The state government intends to use the Kurla Dairy land to rehabilitate Dharavi residents who are ineligible for the housing scheme in Dharavi itself.
A protestor, Kiran Pailwan, mentioned that labourers were initially sent to clean the plot but left when met with resistance from locals. The survey of the land is scheduled for January 23, 2025, and further protests are anticipated as the locals continue to oppose the proposed plans for redevelopment.
