The huge victory for the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti in Maharashtra will boost billionaire Gautam Adani's $3 billion plans to transform Mumbai's slum of Dharavi into a "world-class" district.
Opposition The Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray has threatened to seize all land handed to the Adani group for redeveloping Asia's largest slum and to cancel the project entirely if elected.
For Adani, who is facing bribery accusations in a US court, the cancellation of his beloved Dharavi project would have been a major setback.
With election results showing the BJP and its allies Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar winning more than three-quarters of the 288 seats in the Maharashtra assembly, those fears have now been set to rest.
While an estimated 1 million (10 lakh) people live in Dharavi, approximately 700,000 are expected to be eligible under the resident definition, which requires documentation of residing in the area prior to January 1, 2000.
The others will be given residences in different parts of the city, a notion that some people oppose since they do not want any resident or business owner relocated.
Adani won a contract in 2022 to rebuild the slum, which is located on prime real estate in the overcrowded financial city, during a seven-year period.
Weeks before the election, the Maharashtra government approved the purchase of 256 acres of salt-pan land for Dharavi redevelopment. The salt-pan site will be acquired from the central government and leased to the Maharashtra government, which is redeveloping Asia's largest slum, 620 acres.
The Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt. Ltd., in which the Adani Group owns an 80% share, is conducting the project in collaboration with the state government.
The site will be used to develop low-cost, affordable housing for Dharavi people. A survey of current inhabitants and businesses is being conducted to decide who will be rehoused in Dharavi or evacuated.
The slums—key backdrop in Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire depicts shanties in which eight people are frequently packed into a 100-square-foot tenement and ten times that amount share a toilet. Dharavi is also a major hub for small-scale companies, including leather items, pottery, and textiles.
In 2022, the Maharashtra government published a fresh tender to reconstruct Dharavi after an earlier remake agreement was terminated.
Adani Group, which also operates Mumbai's airport and distributes electricity in the city, won the project in 2022 by offering to pay Rs 5,070 crore -- more than 2.5 times the amount quoted by the next highest bidder -- to provide houses with kitchens and toilets to eligible slum dwellers in revamped Dharavi.
The group owns 80% of the firm that will carry out the project, with the state holding the remaining 20%.
Seclink Technologies, a Dubai-based consortium that initially won the cancelled 2018 bidding, challenged the new contract in the Bombay High Court, claiming that the procedure "unlawfully" favoured Adani by boosting bidders' net worth criteria and limiting consortium membership.
The state administration stated that no contract had been agreed upon with Seclink and that the new tender was called in response to the changed financial and economic scenario caused by the Covid epidemic. It further said that the Seclink consortium was not excluded from the competition.
Starting in the 1950s, various state administrations offered tenders to rehabilitate Dharavi, but none of them took off. The redevelopment primarily entailed acquiring vast areas of land, recruiting investors to provide modern utilities, and relocating local populations.
The current rehabilitation plan is the state government's fourth effort at a global tender, and it has made the most progress. The proposal promises to transform the slum, which is about the size of Monaco, into modern housing, offices, and shopping centers.
Dharavi began as an informal village for Muslim leather tanners but quickly evolved into a cosmopolitan melting pot, with migrants from all across India making it their home. As Mumbai grew, the slum was no longer on the outskirts of the city and is now home to a diverse range of cottage industries.
The Adani-led reconstruction project includes measures such as sustainable transportation systems and advanced infrastructure services. It involves vocational training to help Dharavi's youth and ambitious workers find eco-friendly occupations and increase their earning potential. These initiatives are intended to build a more successful and environmentally friendly future for the town.
