No need of slum-dwellers’ nod for Dharavi project, says CEO

MUMBAI: Responding to queries on the resistance to the Dharavi redeveloment project from a section of slum-dwellers, its CEO, S V R Srinivas, told TOI that more than 50% of the residents have already consented to the project.

But more significantly, he revealed that the project did not require public consent in the first place because the developer had been appointed by the state govt."Under the SRA rules, the building society appoints the developer. For that, 50% consent is required. But here, the govt has appointed the developer. In this case, there is no need for consent," said Srinivas in an exclusive interview to TOI.The project is being implemented by Nav Bharat Mega Developers Pvt Ltd, an SPV in which the Adani Group holds 80% stake and the govt 20%.

The land on which Dharavi stands is owned by the govt and the BMC. Srinivas said around 1 lakh slum-dwellers had responded to the house-to-house survey and just around 20,000 remained to be surveyed. So even if the 50% consent parameter was applied, it had already been crossed, he said.Participation in the door-to-door survey on eligibility for rehabilitation translated into consent, he clarified. "They have given their documents voluntarily.

There is a line in the survey which says they are willing to participate in the redevelopment. So, when they sign, it is consent," said Srinivas.Although consent is not required for the project, the govt had made multiple efforts to get residents to respond to the survey and agree to the project, he emphasised. "We don't want to ride roughshod on anybody. We have already given four opportunities. We put it in the newspaper and then we also put it on their doors," he said.Srinivas said that the survey was still ongoing but roughly 5 lakh eligible tenements would need to be given free space within Dharavi and 5 lakh ineligible tenements would have to move out to subsidised rental housing outside Dharavi.But the question is: Why a massive expanse of 541 acres of land has been earmarked for rental housing and a free sale component for the Adani-led SPV? This has fuelled allegations from the opposition that the project is essentially a "land-grab" to capture lucrative real estate both within and outside Dharavi.The 541 acres for rental housing have been allocated in Deonar, Kurla, Aksa, Malvani and salt pan lands in Bhandup, Mulund and Kanjurmarg. Of this, possession has been given of 63.5 acres so far in Kurla and Mulund.Srinivas said the land meant for rental housing was in the possession of the state's DRP and was not with the Adani-led SPV. "The problem is that there is a shortage of land in Mumbai. We had written to many different agencies including from the central government for these lands.

In some cases, there were rejections. So, we did not know which lands would come and we started applying to different places," he said."Now these lands are coming but they will be with the DRP. Unless people are rehabilitated, the land will not be given to the SPV," he said. He also said that rental units would be built in phases. If all the land was not required, then all the parcels would not be used.The land which is not used from the 541 acres would then revert from the DRP to the govt.

"Our mandate is limited to Dharavi. The land that is not used, will revert to the govt," said Srinivas.Responding to questions about the basis on which the project has been planned since the door-to-door survey on eligible and ineligible tenements is yet to be completed, Srinivas said, "There was initially a drone survey followed by a LIDAR survey to map the structures in the area. And now there is a physical door-to-door survey, which is almost complete. Based on these three, we did a comparison and an extrapolation of data, which is how it works.

In projects of this size, some things can go on simultaneously," he said.