‘No substance to govt plans on renovation of Dharavi slum’

day after the state cabinet revived the 14-year-old Dharavi Redevelopment Project, spread across 535 acres at an estimated cost of ₹22,000 crore, residents of ‘Asia’s largest slum’ remains largely unaffected. On Tuesday, the state cabinet had approved the setting up of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to implement the plan, which had been initially proposed in 2004.

“We have become used to such announcements for the past 14 years. Now it has become a joke for us,” said Bholanath Ayare, 45, who has lived in a 150-square-feet dwelling in Dharavi all his life. He resides with his wife and two children. Any mention of a redevelopment does not evoke a positive response from him, he says.

Mangesh Pawar, said, “We desire one decent house with minimal amenities, but the government just makes announcements while we continue to languish in the slums. Today, no one is ready to marry me as I stay in a slum where there is very little space and toilets are located outside the house.”

This sentiment is shared by lakhs of families living in Dharavi. A majority of the residents hold the government responsible as it halted all redevelopment projects in Dharavi from 2004, stating it would replace the shanties with plush skyscrapers and modern amenities. However, since then, the government has only been making announcements and conducting surveys once in a while, say the residents.

One of the residents’ major concerns is with regard to eligibility of the residents, as a sample survey in one of the sectors had found that 63% of the residents are ineligible.

In Dharavi, commercial spaces and cottage industry units lie chock-a-block with the residential slums. One can see smallscale manufacturing units in same area.

MUMBAI:A