BJP Victory Eases Path for Adani’s USD 3 Billion Dharavi Project

The billionaire Gautam Adani-led group’s USD 3-billion proposal to transform the Mumbai slum of Dharavi into a “world-class” district will benefit from the BJP-led Mahayuti’s resounding victory in Maharashtra. If elected to power, the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav Thackeray, had vowed to abandon the project completely and recapture all the land that had been granted to the Adani company for the redevelopment of Asia’s largest slum.

The abandonment of Adani’s pet Dharavi project would have been a major blow to the company, which is already facing bribery accusations in a US court.

With the Maharashtra assembly’s 288 seats up for grabs, the BJP and its partners Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar have now been able to allay those fears.

Adani intends to create a glamorous metropolitan centre on 620 acres of premium land, which is roughly three-quarters the size of Central Park in New York. In the crowded slums near Mumbai’s international airport, around seven lakh people living in rickety shanties with open sewers and communal toilets are to be provided with free apartments up to 350 square feet.

The opposition claims that the state government gave that group excessive privileges in winning the contract, making the renovation a political hot potato. The organisation has denied taking advantage of the government’s favouritism.

The state government’s fourth effort at a global tender, the current rebuilding plan, has advanced the most. The project’s goal is to turn the slum—which is about the size of Monaco—into contemporary workplaces, shopping centres, and housing.

Initially an unofficial community for Muslim leather tanners, Dharavi quickly transformed into a multicultural melting pot where immigrants from all across India settled. The slum was no longer on the outskirts of Mumbai as the city grew, and it is now the site of numerous cottage industries.

Initiatives like modern infrastructure utilities and sustainable transit systems are part of the Adani-led rehabilitation project. In order to empower young people and aspiring workers in Dharavi, it offers vocational training that will increase their earning potential and help them land environmentally sustainable occupations. The goal of these initiatives is to give the community a more economic and ecologically friendly future.

Source: The Economic Times

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