Shiv Sena UBT president Uddhav Thackeray will on Saturday lead a mega march of his party to the Adani Properties office in Mumbai over the issue of rehabilitating Dharavi residents after the Dharavi Slum redevelopment project and hike in the city's electricity tariffs which is provided by Adani Power. The march will start on Saturday afternoon from Dharavi area, where the redevelopment is scheduled take place, and will end at the Adani Properties office in south central Mumbai. While talking to the media about the march, Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut said that the initiative wasn't just for Dharavi but for Mumbai and that Mumbaikars would participate in it. He slammed the government over all projects being given away to Adani group and called industrialist Gautam Adani "Damaad of BJP" (son-in-law of BJP). "BJP is doing everything to gain control over everyone. Gautam Adani is the industrialist son-in-law of the BJP and the son-in-law wants to swallow Mumbai. We won't let that happen. Dharavi bachao march is going to take place," Raut said. Meanwhile, The Dharavi Redevelopment Committee made their position clear on Uddhav Thackeray and the Congress opposing the redevelopment work, saying that Thackeray and MLA Varsha Gaikwad should support the redevelopment and not oppose it, which may delay the project. Speaking at the press conference, Ramakant Gupta - president of the Dharavi Redevelopment Committee said, “It was the dream of Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb to convert the slums of Dharavi into Nandanvan. For the development of Dharavikars he asked then CM Manohar Joshi to prepare a scheme. This idea gave birth to the SRA scheme. Except Dharavi, the whole of Mumbai is being developed under the SRA scheme. Dharavi has been deprived of development for the last 30 years.” The committee informed it will reach out to the residents of Dharavi and bust myths and lies spread by Uddhav. “The government has met the basic demands of Dharavikars and we will work with the government to ensure that the rights of the locals are protected,” committee members said. Alleging that the Shinde and BJP-led state government favoured the business conglomerate by awarding it the Dharavi redevelopment project, Uddhav had on December 5 announced that he would lead a march on December 16. Uddhav had said that the Sena (UBT) won’t allow the state government to “gift Mumbai to Adani” and demanded that Dharavi residents must get a space of 400 to 500 sq feet each and they must be relocated in Dharavi itself considering their livelihoods, as they mostly depend on manufacturing products. The former CM had said that the Sena (UBT) wants the Dharavi redevelopment but raised suspicion over the process followed while awarding the redevelopment contract and rehabilitating slum-dwellers. “The electricity bill contract has also been awarded to Adani. How is everything given to Adani? If you are taking all the industries to Gujarat, what will you do to Mumbai,” he questioned over awarding the project to the firm. In July, Adani Properties had won the bid to re-develop the 594-acre slum. The project is estimated to have a revenue potential of Rs 20,000 crore. Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president and MLA Varsha Gaikwad came down heavily on Adani and pointed out major flaws in the Dharavi Rehabilitation Project. Gaikwad alleged that the project is Asia's biggest "construction scam" and that Adani will gain Rs 1 lakh crore from the project. She also claimed that Adani and PM Modi together conspired to carry out the alleged "scam". Drawing the attention of the state and central government, Gaikwad in the state assembly said, "The government cancelled the previous tender process just so that the best friend of the Prime Minister could get the dream and cream project. Accordingly, a newly-drawn tender was prepared to aid Adani." Gaikwad added that at present, the government is operating as not just a piece of land but any government commodity belonging to Adani. "When Dharavi residents opposed the project with public representatives in their support, they labelled all of us as anti-development. But in reality, Dharavikars will be left with nothing and only Modani will develop. Even the Britishers had taken only 'teen guna lagaan' (triple rent) but the government is collecting ten times the rent," Gaikwad said.
