Mumbai's Largest Slum 'Dharavi' To Get Facelift

Published: May 19, 2009 at 9:47 AM | Author: Administrator
News Source: 5 May 2009 - Indian Realty News

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Many of Dharavi residents are battling government-backed plans to demolish their homes and begin a process known as 'slum rehabilitation'. Dharavi is Asia's largest slum located in the heart of Mumbai and is home to about one million people. Now it has become the focus of heated controversy over government-backed plans to bulldoze the area. Its residents will be rehoused in high-rise apartments. The rest of the land (some 3 and a half million square meters) will be used for up-market housing, as well as office and commercial space for India's upwardly mobile class.

Mr. Shaan Mehta, one of the designers who brought the proposed slum-clearance project to the government, said, "I think the whole country is waiting and watching for the first bulldozer to come in and bulldoze those slums so they can start doing it in their cities too," Mr. Mehta said. But the Dharavi residents are really not convinced, like Mr. Siddharth Medhe who runs a small transportation company and has lived here for 40 years. "We have never asked the government for new houses. The government came to us. We are very happy where we are. Some people even say that if we move into bigger houses, there will be problems because we'll have to pay property taxes and live alongside people who are wealthier than us," Mr. Medhe said.