The stalemate regarding the acquisition of additional land for the rehabilitation of those ineligible for free housing in the Dharavi redevelopment project is expected to ease. The state cabinet approved the transfer of 124 acre of the Deonar dumping ground, which is the city’s oldest and largest landfill, spanning 311 acre, for the project.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will retain 136 acre of the area, while the remaining land is marshy and unusable.
Dharavi Redevelopment Project, a joint venture between the Adani Group and the state government, had collectively sought 540 acre for housing ineligible residents. The company will need to pay 25 per cent of the ready reckoner rate to the revenue department for the land, while BMC, as the planning authority, must ensure that the dump is scientifically closed before granting housing permissions.
The portion retained by BMC includes land for on-going waste-to-energy project works, a peripheral road, and current landfill operations. However, officials indicated that the latter is a temporary setup that will eventually be shut down.
Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray criticized the cabinet's decision, alleging that the landfill plot has been allocated to the Adani Group despite formal objections from BMC, which requires the land. Former Dharavi MLA and Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad stated that the situation constitutes a "mega loot and betrayal of Mumbai" that has crossed the limits. She expressed that the cabinet meeting represented another blow to public interest, with 124 acre of civic land in Deonar being designated for Adani's ‘Dharavi vinash’ (destroy Dharavi) project. Gaikwad noted that this land was previously a waste dumping ground, and gaseous discharge continues to occur there even today.
