Dharavi residents should be rehabilitated within 10-km radius: State

The issue of resettling the ineligible residents is complex and has taken many twists and turns due to the sheer number of residents that need to be rehabilitated, and the discourse over what lands to allot these residents

In a significant development relating to the resettlement of Dharavi residents, the state government says that residents eligible for affordable rental homes provided by Dharavi Redevelopment Project Private Limited (DRPPL) should preferably be rehabilitated within a 10-km radius of the slum.

Dharavi residents should be rehabilitated within 10-km radius: State

Affordable rental homes will be provided to residents ineligible for free housing under the Dharavi redevelopment project, as they fail to meet the January 1, 2000 cut-off for free housing. Also, residents predating this cut-off but residing in structures other than ground-floor structures will not be eligible for free homes.

The issue of resettling the ineligible residents is complex and has taken many twists and turns due to the sheer number of residents that need to be rehabilitated, and the discourse over what lands to allot these residents.

Residents who qualify for affordable rental homes not provided by DRPPL will be allotted houses by state agencies such as the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and Maharashtra Metropolitan Development Authority (MMRDA). Unlike DRPPL, these agencies are not restricted by any perimeter around the Dharavi slum.

Accordingly, large parcels of land at several locations across Mumbai have been discussed and assigned for affordable rental housing by these agencies. This includes 255 acres of salt pan land in Mulund and Kanjurmarg, recently transferred by the central government for the Dharavi rehabilitation project.

In addition, land parcels at the Dahisar and Mulund check nakas have opened up, while land belonging to the state Dairy Development Department in Kurla is also in the mix. The defunct Deonar dumping ground has also been offered by the municipality.

According to the Government Resolution issued on Friday, all affordable rental flats built by private developers for Dharavi residents will have to be constructed under Regulation 33 (10) A of the Development Control Promotion Regulation. This means the developer will have to give these flats to the state government free of cost in lieu of 1.33 incentive Floor Space Index (FSI). The government will then transfer these houses to the agency resettling the residents, whether the SRA, MMRDA or DRPPL, which will then offer these flats on rent, at affordable rates, to the Dharavi residents.

In a separate development, the state government has set up a committee headed by Justice (Retd) Dilip Bhosale to arbitrate on unauthorised religious structures in the Dharavi slum. This development follows the recent controversy over the demolition of an illegal portion of a mosque in the slum. A BMC squad that had attempted to raze the unauthorized portions of the mosque had been stalled. Eventually, the demolition was carried out by the trustees of the mosque.

Justice Bhosale is a retired chief justice of the Allahabad High Court and the committee headed by him will look into issues relating to the removal, regularisation and shifting of illegal religious structures in the Dharavi slum. According to government estimates, there are more than 1,000 such illegal structures in the slum. The other member of the committee will be Justice G M Akbar Ali, a judge of the Madras High Court.