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Dharavi protesters shave their heads

Special Correspondent

Eminent people across globe say development project will destroy livelihoods

MUMBAI: Dharavi residents who are protesting against the Rs. 9,300-crore makeover of their slum, on Monday shaved their heads even as the police prevented them from taking out a mock funeral procession at Holi Maidan here.

Last week, eminent personalities from across the world petitioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to review the project, aimed at sector-wise development of Dharavi.

The Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party, apart from the Dharavi Bachao Andolan (DBA) and other groups took part in the protest to draw attention to the government’s “insensitivity” to the plight of the six-lakh slum dwellers. Global tenders for the project were floated some time ago and the government is expected to take a decision in September after scrutinising the bids.

On June 18, thousands took to the streets, and the various groups and political parties decided to continue their agitation until the government agreed to proper rehabilitation of those who run small-scale industries, increasing house size from 225 to 400 sqft and conducting a realistic survey of people who are entitled to houses.

While the government proposes to build 57,000 houses, Raju Korade of the DBA and others contend that this figure is low and not based on any survey. In addition, private land at Dharavi will be acquired for the project and there is no clarity on this issue, according to Ramakrishna Keni of the Koli community.

Academics, artists, researchers and professionals from across the globe have written to the Prime Minister, expressing their “profound sense of disquiet” over the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP). Many of them have visited Dharavi.

The letter said that in drawing up the DRP, the Government had not followed the legal procedure of publishing a plan and inviting objections and suggestions.

There was no survey of the population, households, structures, ownership and topography and hence there was no data or basis for a plan that would disrupt the lives of several hundred thousands.

There were no studies projecting the increased population of Dharavi after redevelopment and no planning standards were mentioned.

The letter pointed out that the residents had virtually no information about the DRP. It was “profoundly undemocratic” to do away with the requirement that at least 70 per cent of the people consent to any slum redevelopment scheme. The extent of increased floor space index would lead to unsupportable densities of population.

There was no mention of any strategy for land use, traffic, urban form, infrastructure, housing typologies or environment. For all the massive cost of the project, there was no Environmental Assessment Report.

Expressing the fear that if the DRP was implemented, the livelihoods of people would be destroyed without any alternative offered, the letter urged Dr. Singh and Mr. Deshmukh to look at the project afresh and seek the approval of the community at large before finalising it.

The signatories include Professor Arjun Appadurai and Professor Michael Cohen (The New School); Professor Homi Bhabha, Professor David Bloom and Professor Gerald Frug (Harvard University); Professor Akeel Bilgrami and Professor Partha Chatterjee (Columbia University); Professor Richard Burdette and Professor Richard Sennett (The London School of Economics); Professor Dipesh Chakrabarty and Professor Saskia Sassen (The University of Chicago); Professor Veena Das (Johns Hopkins University), Professor Mike Davis (University of California-Irvine); Professor Thomas Blom Hansen (University of Amsterdam); Professor David Harvey (City University of New York); Professor Christophe Jaffrelot (Institute for Political Studies, Paris); Professor Achille Mbembe (Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg); Dr. Vijayendra Rao (The World Bank); Mary Robinson, president, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative and former President of Ireland; Professor David Satterthwaite (International Institute for Environment and Development, London); Shashi Tharoor (New York); Professor Peter van der Veer (University of Utrecht) and Jianying Zha (Beijing).

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