Meanwhile. Dharavi Bachav Andolan coordinator Sanjay Bhalerao said that “the DRP authorities are aware that if they start the survey from some other zone in Asia’s largest slum sprawl they may face opposition and resistance from the locals. Which is why they have started the survey from this basti because the residents here are pro Dharavi redevelopment”.
Mumbai: In what appears to be a smart move, the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL) sounded its first bugle call in Kamala Raman Nagar, a small project friendly basti situated along the eastern railway lines of Matunga Station where residents are all gung ho about the makeover.
‘D’ Day has finally arrived…on Monday, March 18, 2024 and DRPPL kickstarted its first digital survey of the 390-odd tenements in this basti. Residents here have been promised free homes under the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) and a survey to verify their eligibility has begun. There is excitement in the air and locals are busy readying their documents – Aadhar cards, electricity bills, voter IDs and what have you!
Rajesh Rokde, who works as a driver has taken time off from duty to participate in the survey. “They may click photos and number my zopda…so I want to be there”, he says animatedly.
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There is no denying that DRPPL has chosen its pitch well. Starting a survey on an optimistic note has its own advantages. “Its sends out a positive message to the rest of Dharavi, naysayers notwithstanding,” says Jeetendra Satpal, acting president, Kamala Raman Nagar cooperative housing society.
To ensure all goes well, Jayshree Pawaskar, secretary of the society has parked herself outside the small Sai Baba Temple in the Basti to scrutinise and help local residents get their paperwork in order before the joint team of state government, Adani Group and Genesys International arrives to kickstart the survey. Genesys has been awarded the contract to carry out the digital mapping.
“There is ekta (unity) among all households here. We support the project because all of us want secure homes…right now we are living in zopdas (hutments) that are like encroachments on railway land with no future…,” explains Pawaskar.
Its not as if the residents here don’t have fears and doubts about the project. Says 64-year-old Geeta Rao, “obviously we are worried that they (DRPPL) may dump us in some far out place like Mulund. But I have mentally prepared myself…I have to keep faith…what will happen will happen…at least this is better than living in a zopda on encroached land”, she says.
These locals have been living on railway land as encroachments for the last several decades. “Because this is railway property we have very little hope of our homes being regularised. But now under the DRP, the government has acquired the land from the authorities on a 99-year lease basis and has promised us free and permanent homes. So naturally we are excited about the survey because for the first time we will be notified and given a number”, says Satpal.
According to a DRPLL spokesperson, the team from Genesys, the agency assigned the the task of undertaking the survey, will collect data from lakhs of informal tenement residents of Dharavi. The data will be used by the state government to determine their rehabilitation eligibility criteria under the proposed redevelopment project. The survey will also create, for first time ever, a ‘Digital Dharavi,’ an advanced library of one of the world’s largest informal settlements.
Pawaskar pointed out that a team from DRPPL had visited the site a few days ago to mentally prepare the residents for the survey. “Official notices were put up and pamphlets distributed to the locals. In the course of the survey they will be giving a unique number to every informal tenement/structure and will also laser map the lane, click digital photos of the main male and female members of the family and scan their relevant documents”.
SVR Srinivas, the officer on special duty (OSD) at Dharavi Redevelopment Project, said, “This is an important day for us. It is on the basis of this survey that all our future development will happen. We have begun numbering houses with unique IDs. Our teams will conduct socio-economic surveys of all households.”
Meanwhile. Dharavi Bachav Andolan coordinator Sanjay Bhalerao said that “the DRP authorities are aware that if they start the survey from some other zone in Asia’s largest slum sprawl they may face opposition and resistance from the locals. Which is why they have started the survey from this basti because the residents here are pro Dharavi redevelopment”.
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