‘Give us bigger homes or we will stop revamp work'

Barely two weeks after a contractor was selected to start the Dharavi revamp project, the Dharavi Bachao Andolan warned the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) that it will not allow work to commence till the authority agrees to provide 400 square feet houses to the residents.

Barely two weeks after a contractor was selected to start the Dharavi revamp project, the Dharavi Bachao Andolan warned the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) that it will not allow work to commence till the authority agrees to provide 400 square feet houses to the residents.

The group has also demanded a comprehensive special scheme to house the commercial units of Dharavi, which they say will be destroyed if the current plan goes through.

According to Baburao Mane, who heads the outfit, the current scheme is flawed and residents will oppose it. “It is a joke. Residents are unaware of any development and officials and builders are planning the whole thing without consulting us,” said Mane. “We are being forced to shift to smaller houses of 300sqft, which will be impossible considering the size of our families. We will not allow a single new unit to come up till we are promised bigger houses,” he added.

The Andolan members arranged for a special session with the media on Wednesday across Dharavi, which is the largest slum pocket in India. They highlighted how the revamp plan does not talk of rehabilitating the cottage industries, which provide livelihood to lakhs of residents.

“There is nothing in the plan for the people whose livelihood depends on the industry,” said Ramkrishna Keni, working president of the outfit. “They just want to construct houses and commercial units without any thought. It will be disastrous for the city too as a manufacturing hub will get wiped out,” he said.

After eight years, the state finally gave Mhada the go-ahead to redevelop sector 5 of Dharavi. Mhada also approved BG Shirke as the contractors who will build 330 tenements as part of the new project.