Dharavi has had many distinctions from being Asia’s largest slum to being the subject matter of Indian and international movies such as the Oscar winning Slumdog millionaire and scores of fiction and non-fiction books. But amidst all these, it is the people of Dharavi who make it what it is – a settlement spread over 240 acres with countless micro industries from pottery, snacks to leather and garments and more.
For decades, the settlement has housed migrants coming to the city to make a living. For decades the settlement has suffered from lack of basic amenities such as sanitation. Located in the heart of the city, with access to most important areas, and in the vicinity of municipal hospital, schools and colleges, Dharavi is a unique slum township, if we can call it that.
Not surprisingly, it is also extremely attractive to real estate developers when it comes to plans of redevelopment of the entire area. Though the plans to redevelop Dharavi have been floated before, they never materialised.
However, when industrialist Gautam Adani recently won the tender of Rs 5000 plus crore to redevelop Dharavi, an atmosphere of doubt and resistance engulfed in the community. Opposition leaders have made allegations of favouritism and discrimination and urban planners and activists have raised concerns of rampant and unsustainable real estate development. Residents and civic activists have flagged that public consultations have not happened. Adani has promised to make it into a modern city centre.
The protest group called Mumbai Dharavi Bachao Andolan held a huge rally in December 2023 to oppose the project. Uddhav Thackeray has promised that if their alliance comes to power in the assembly elections, they will scrap the project.
Dharavi redevelopment: Governments, people and developers
Citizen Matters hosted an online discussion with Hussain Indorewala and Vinod Shetty, who have been vocal about the apprehensions of the residents of Dharavi over the redevelopment plan.
Hussain Indorewala is a teacher and activist. He is an Assistant Professor at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture in Mumbai, and is pursuing his PhD in Sociology at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
Vinod Shetty, B Com, LLB, is a human rights lawyer, practising in the Industrial Court, Labour Court and High Court of Mumbai. He is the honorary founder director of Acorn Foundation (India). Acorn’s Dharavi Project organises waste collectors and pickers who are the backbone of the city’s recycling industry.
In an insightful discussion, they highlight the need for better quality of life for the people in Dharavi but also point to the risks that the project entails and emphasise that without people’s participation the project may not only harm Dharavi but also Mumbai as a whole.
Read more: Explainer: Dharavi redevelopment — What lies ahead
Online discussion on Dharavi redevelopment project
As recently as last month, the Adani group requested for additional land to house the “ineligible” residents of Dharavi. It has led to further opposition among the residents. The survey to determine eligibility has been going on since March 2024 intermittently. Amidst opposition and complaints, it is said that they have surveyed 8500 households.
As Vinod Shetty and Hussain Indorewala point out, the residents need and want a better quality of life but they are also sceptical about the redevelopment project in its current form.
