A government official stated that a joint venture headed by billionaire Gautam Adani is having difficulty obtaining land to rehabilitate impoverished residents of one of Asia’s biggest slums in Mumbai, creating a new obstacle for the ambitious rehabilitation plan.
The Dharavi slum, which is roughly three-quarters the size of Central Park in New York, was the subject of Danny Boyle’s 2008 Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire”. Surrounded by Mumbai’s international airport, its shared bathrooms and open sewers contrast sharply with India’s building boom.
Adani Group, which won the $619 million bid last year, intends to turn the 240 hectare (594 acre) slum into a contemporary city center, but opposition political parties have already protested, claiming it was given preferential treatment by the state government in giving the contract. The claims have been refuted by the group.
The rebuilding of Dharavi will only provide free dwellings to individuals who were residents before the year 2000. The remaining 700,000 or so people who are deemed ineligible will be housed on a large portion of the property, at least 580 acres for the time being, needed for rehabilitation.
According to SVR Srinivas, head of the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority, the Adani joint venture applied to several municipal and federal organizations for more land to build homes for those who were not eligible, but they have not yet been granted any. He said that this is because certain government organizations are unwilling to give up their ownership of land since they have other plans for it.
The project, which aims to rehouse a million people, is a critical and high-profile project for Adani, who last year faced allegations of business mismanagement and stock manipulation in a scathing report by short-seller Hindenburg Research which he denied.
Source: Reuters
