The ambitious project to redevelop Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, is encountering significant obstacles. According to a government official, the joint venture led by billionaire Gautam Adani is struggling to secure the necessary land for rehabilitating the area’s impoverished residents, as per a Reuters report.
Dharavi, famously featured in the 2008 Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire,” spans an area about three-quarters the size of New York’s Central Park. The slum’s poor living conditions, including open sewers and shared toilets, stand in stark contrast to India’s ongoing development boom, the report added.
The Adani Group, which won the $619 million bid last year, aims to transform the 240-hectare slum into a modern urban centre. However, the project has already faced criticism from opposition parties alleging undue favours in the contract award, claims the group denies.
A new challenge has emerged regarding land acquisition for rehabilitation. SVR Srinivas, head of the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority, explained that only residents who lived in Dharavi before 2000 qualify for free homes. This leaves approximately 700,000 people ineligible, requiring at least 580 acres of additional land for their relocation, as per the report.
“In Mumbai, getting land is the toughest of things. Physically not a single inch of land has come to us,” Srinivas stated. He expressed concern about the impact of these delays on the project timeline, adding, “Yes, without land, the project cannot take place, so that is a very critical factor for doing the project on time,” as quoted by Reuters.
This redevelopment project, aiming to rehouse a million people, is crucial for Adani, who faced allegations of business mismanagement last year in a report by Hindenburg Research, which he denied.
Despite the challenges, Adani has expressed optimism about the project’s potential impact, stating he hoped the area would produce “millionaires without the slumdog prefix” in the future.
The project, which began in March with an eligibility survey, aims for completion within seven years.
(With Inputs from Reuters)