'Gautam Adani will not be able to step inside Dharavi.'
'We residents of Dharavi will ensure Adani will not get what he wants.'
'Remove Adani! Save Dharavi!' echoed on the streets of Dharavi in north central Mumbai on Saturday, December 16, 2023, when residents of one of the world's largest slums came out to protest against businessman Gautam Adani.
The protest was led by Baburao Mane, leader of the Dharavi Bachao Andolan (Save Dharavi Committee).
"Adani's plan is to give residences to only 50,000 people. The bigger plan is to evacuate 50,000 families from Dharavi permanently," Mane tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Why are you opposing the development of Dharavi by the Adani group?
Our demand is that each and every slum dweller of Dharavi must get a 500 square feet flat plus there has to be overall improvement in the living standards of the people of Dharavi.
We want hospitals, schools, open play grounds, colleges and wide roads.
It should look like a developed city and the 15,000 self-employed people of Dharavi must not lose their employment post the development.
There are businesses like the leather industry which employs thousands of people. These people must not lose their employment when Adani starts building Dharavi.
At this moment, we feel nothing of that sort is happening or being promised to us.
Why have you launched this protest?
This movement against Adani is not new. We have been protesting from day one (July 2023) since he bagged the project for Dharavi and demanding we need 500 square feet homes.
If you recall, when the Slum Rehabilitation Authority rule came into effect the owner of a house in a slum used to get a 225 square feet home.
After lot of protests the SRA increased it to 250, and now they give 350 square feet homes.
Now, if MHADA (the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) or other government institutions take redevelopment work they give 500 square feet homes.
We are already living in 250 to 300 square feet homes in our slums so don't we have right to demand 500 square feet homes?
We are not asking for the moon from Adani, but only 500 square feet homes.
But there are 100,000 people who are demanding this. Will the project then be viable for Adani? He is ready to give 400 square feet homes if I am not mistaken.
Dharavi has 650 acres of land and there are 100,000 zopadas (shanty dwellings). Adani's plan is to give residences to only 50,000 people. The bigger plan is to evacuate 50,000 families from Dharavi permanently.
I had met then MMRDA CEO S V R Srinivas who said that people who live on rent in Dharavi too will get an opportunity to get new homes.
What you are saying is contrary to what he told me: 'We Want To Develop Dharavi Like Hong Kong'
These are tenants who live on rent on mezzanine floors of the slum and it is a totally different issue.
What we are demanding is that they give us 500 square feet flats to all 100,000 families.
They can do that on 300 acres of land of Dharavi. Let Adani do whatever he wants with the other 300 acres.
The 50 acres of land that remains, let there be infrastructure work for better road connectivity.
Did you meet Adani's representatives or MMRDA officials?
They do not call us for a meeting. When we approach them they do not meet us. And since Adani knows the central government is with him he is arrogant.
Let me tell you, Gautam Adani will not be able to step inside Dharavi.
We residents of Dharavi have unity among us and we will ensure Adani will not get what he wants.
Adani has no reason to do politics with the people of Dharavi, but he is still doing it.
When is the demolition set to begin?
Adani knows Dharavi residents are against him so he has not started any demolition work.
Six months have passed and no work has begun on Dharavi's redevelopment by Adani as people are not cooperating with him.
Adani will wait for the formation of the next government, therefore he is not beginning the work.
He saw the morcha against him and must have got the message that the people of Dharavi will not bow down to him.
What is this TDR (Transferable Development Rights) that you have been talking about?
To sell the TDR of Dharavi, the state government has taken the responsibility to sell TDR for Adani.
Why is the Maharashtra government doing it? Have they done this earlier in any case? More importantly, the price of TDR is being decided by Adani and not the state government.
The central government and the BJP has a big role in handing over this TDR to Adani in which the Maharashtra government is going to get nothing.
(What is TDR?) [external link])
But Adani is investing Rs 5,069 crore (Rs 50.69 billion) in the project.
He will get profit of Rs 1 lakh crore because of the Dharavi TDR. Dharavi residents must therefore be compensated for his benefit.
If you buy a house in Mumbai city, you have to pay stamp duty to the Maharashtra government.
In Dharavi, Adani did not pay a single paisa as stamp duty on 650 acres of land. He got it for free.
Adani has the capability to transform Dharavi. Don't you think he is the right man for the project?
The Maharashtra government has CIDCO (the City and Industrial Development Corporation) which developed more than 50,000 acres of land in Navi Mumbai.
Let CIDCO develop Dharavi and if they do it the profit earned will go to Maharashtra state.
Moreover, each Dharavi resident family will get a 1,000 square feet flat if CIDCO redevelops Dharavi. Dharavi has this huge potential.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
