Why does Adani Group need 1,250 acres for redevelopment project: Dharavi residents

Mumbai: A group of Dharavi residents have questioned why the Adani Group-led Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL) requires 1,250 acres of land for its slum overhaul plan. Calling it “a land scam”, the Dharavi Bachao Andolan said 1,250 acres is double the area of Dharavi, one of the world’s largest slums.

The group, backed by the Congress and Shiv Sena, has been protesting against DRPPL after the Maharashtra government on June 10 allotted 21 acres of land at the state-owned Kurla Dairy for the redevelopment project. With this, the total area of land sought by DRPPL went up to 1,250 acres.

Since the new tender process for the project was issued in October 2022, 45 acres of railway land was included in the project area. In January 2024, the state government’s housing department wrote to the urban development department seeking the transfer of two land parcels in Mulund with a total area of 64 acres for the project. In February, the state cabinet approved a proposal to give 283.4 acres of salt-pan land in Kanjurmarg, Bhandup and Wadala to DRPPL.

Seventeen acres of land in the Bandra Kurla Complex was then included. DRPPL also wrote to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) seeking over 820 acres of land in Deonar. However, in April, the BMC explained the hurdles in transferring this land.

The Dharavi Bachao Andolan has questioned the need for such huge land parcels for the redevelopment project. “Why do they need 1,250 acres of land to redevelop Dharavi, which is just over 600 acres? The Adani Group wants to acquire huge land in Mumbai in the name of rehabilitation of Dharavi residents. It’s nothing but a land scam,” said Raju Korde, co-ordinator of Dharavi Bachao Andolan.

Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad also questioned the decision to hand over huge land parcels to DRPPL. “Earlier, the Mulund land was sought for the project. Then, the government allocated salt pan lands in Mumbai for the project. They also want Deonar land and, now, the government issued an order to hand over the land at Kurla. Why does the government want to transfer so much land to Adani?” said Gaikwad. She also sarcastically urged Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya, who opposed the rehabilitation project in Mulund, and Shiv Sena MLA Mangesh Kudalkar, who opposed the rehabilitation project at Kurla, to support the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) in their fight to protect the land.

Calls and messages to the DRPPL spokesperson regarding the matter went unanswered.

Ongoing survey stopped

Meanwhile, Gaikwad, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai, and Dharavi residents met DRPPL chief executive SVR Srinivas on Friday and complained about an ongoing survey to fix the eligibility of residents for rehabilitation. They alleged that people with guns were spreading terror in the name of the survey.

Both MPs from the opposition alliance demanded stopping the survey immediately as there could be a law and order situation, with residents being angry about it. Srinivas then directed DRPPL officials to stop the survey.

Addressing the media, Gaikwad and Desai said they will fight for residents to be rehabilitated in Dharavi only. They also said that once the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi comes to power in the state, it will cancel the provision that compels builders to buy the first 40% TDR (transfer of development rights) in their projects from the DRPPL.

Shiv Sena MLA Mangesh Kudalkar on Friday also wrote a letter to chief minister Eknath Shinde demanding the cancellation of the government order to allocate 21 acres of the Kurla Dairy land for the Dharavi project. He asked the government to develop a sports complex and garden on the plot instead.