Housing department to seek special case status for Dharavi rehabilitation

Mumbai: After failed attempts to redevelop Dharavi slums, the housing department has proposed to the state government to give protection to multi-layered structures as well. The housing department plans to write to the Centre to include rehabilitation of Dharavi slum dwellers as a special case under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY), a scheme applicable only to rural areas.

A meeting was recently held by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss the long pending issue of Dharavi redevelopment. Earlier attempts by the government to redevelop the area by issuing global tenders failed miserably. Developers were not keen on taking up such a big project. Also, post-demonetisation, developers said that due to the financial crunch, there was no progress on the project. However, the housing department, which is keen on changing the face of Asia’s largest slum, discussed a few options with the CM at the meeting.

“The major problem with Dharavi redevelopment is that slums have got multi-layered structures and rehabilitating all is not viable. So, the housing department is planning to intervene and think about protecting the multi-layered structures too. We will have to think about rehabilitating these slums at the same place. We are going to write to the Centre seeking their permission to implement the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for Dharavi. It is difficult to create new houses in Mumbai and hence, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is the only option for affordable housing,” said an official from the housing department.

At present, the 557-acre plot is divided into five sectors for redevelopment. Of these, sectors one to four are with the Dharavi authority while the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has the fifth sector.

The project was given a floor space index (FSI) of four. It will be redeveloped under development control regulation 33 (9) (A), which was framed for redevelopment of Dharavi, and under which, every tenement is given an area of 350 square feet.

Case history

The state government on January 30, 2016, floated global tenders of Rs 22,000 crore for Dharavi redevelopment, which did not find any takers. The government was compelled to give an extension by further opening the bids up to May 5, 2016, which did not yield any takers either.