Dharavi dreams

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project is reported to have picked up speed at last. Maharashtra government officials say the global tendering process has begun to upgrade living facilities in Mumbai8217;s, and Asia8217;s, largest slum. An almost schizophrenic tenor is palpable in Mumbai8217;s struggle to chart its future, and the Dharavi project should put right some of those contradictions in the city8217;s collective vision.

Dharavi carries the legendary spirit of Mumbai. It buzzes with economic activity, sometimes at the very desperate edge of survival but most of it now extremely settled and well-organised. It gives shelter to the immigrants streaming into the city in distress but also still hopeful that in Mumbai anything is possible. But Dharavi is also a civic disaster. Almost a million people are crammed into an area of less that 2 sq km. The low-level shanties have neither the benefits of civic hygiene or municipal facilities. And lack of documentation draws the underground into patronage and extortion rackets. Dharavi has, thus, been part of Mumbai8217;s guilty conscience. The redevelopment project is therefore important for the city to be true to its residents and at ease with itself.

It could be argued that Dharavi8217;s largeness 8212; in terms of the number of residents and their linkages with the rest of the city 8212; make it easier to redevelop smaller, less contiguous slums. In the redevelopment project, families who can show residency till the mid-nineties would be rehabilitated on site in multi-storey apartment blocks. Established socio-economic networks will, hopefully, be maintained. The very location of Dharavi in the heart of some of the world8217;s most expensive real estate makes it easier to get developers interested. The locational advantage has, for instance, showed up in the special FSI worked into the redevelopment project. But dislocation is always painful and could heighten anxiety. Mumbai has dithered too long on Dharavi; it cannot afford to spoil this opportunity by frittering away possible gains in delays.