Shiv Sena to oppose Dharavi revamp

After the Metro-III project, the Dharavi redevelopment project is likely to be the next bone of contention between Shiv Sena and BJP, the two ruling parties in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which are already at loggerheads over several issues.

The proposal for Dharavi redevelopment project will be tabled for approval in the civic general body meeting to be held on Friday. However, Shiv Sena has decided to strongly oppose it, saying redevelopment of the slum seems difficult considering the poor response to the tender process for the project.

In a letter written to the civic body, Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale argued against the Dharavi redevelopment project. “The slum rehabilitation projects in Dharavi have been stuck for the last 10 years due to the redevelopment project. The BMC land in the redevelopment project has several amenities like estate department chawls, buildings, staff quarters, schools, colleges, pumping stations etc. The upgrading of these amenities has also been hampered due to the project,” he said.

Despite the state government giving an extension to the tender process three times, no bidder has shown interest in the redevelopment project. In light of the lukewarm response to the tender process, the redevelopment of Dharavi through this project seems very difficult, Mr Shewale added.

The BJP-led civic improvements committee early this year had approved the proposal to allot 147.77 hectares of municipal land to the Dharavi redevelopment project. The BMC stands to get more than 11,757 tenements for the project-affected persons (PAPs) and also a premium of `1,220 crore as land value in the project.

The state government has appointed Dharavi Redevelopment Authority (DRA) for the improvement of Dharavi, which is considered the largest and most densely populated slum pocket in Asia. A floor space index (FSI) of four would be used for the project, which aims at providing rehabilitation tenements to 58,343 eligible slum dwellers in the region. Apart from this, 11,757 additional tenements would be available for the BMC, which can use them as PAP tenements.

Improvements committee chairman Prakash Gangadhare (BJP) hit out at Sena’s efforts to halt the project. “The project is very essential for the redevelopment of Dharavi and local residents stand to get tenements of 400 sq ft from it. However, Shiv Sena is trying to play petty politics by stalling the project. But we will ensure that the proposal gets passed in the BMC house,” he said.