Adani wins Dharavi slum redevelopment bid

Adani wins Dharavi slum redevelopment bid

Subject :Polity

Context:

• The Adani Group emerged as the highest bidder for a project to redevelop the slum cluster of Dharavi in Mumbai.

More about Dharavi:

• Dharavi is famous as one of the world’s largest slums and is located in the heart of India’s financial capital Mumbai.
• The Dharavi slum came into being in 1884.
• It was originally inhabited by fisherfolk when the area was still creeks and swamps.
• A city within a city, is one unending stretch of narrow dirty lanes, open sewers and cramped huts.
• It became attractive to migrant workers from South Mumbai and others when the swamp began to fill in due to natural and artificial causes.

What is  Dharavi Redevelopment Project:

• The state had envisaged this sprawl be transformed into a cluster of high-rises with improved urban infrastructure.
• It entailed resettling 68,000 people, including slum dwellers and those with commercial establishments.
• The state was to provide 300-sqft houses for free to residents with proof that their slum structure was in existence before January 1, 2000.
• The project was initially mooted in 2004, but never got off the ground due to various reasons.

When redevelopment was first proposed:

• In 1999, the government first proposed to redevelop Dharavi.
• Thereafter, the government of Maharashtra in the year 2003-04 decided to redevelop Dharavi as an integrated planned township.
• An action plan for redevelopment was approved by issuing a government resolution.
• It was decided to develop Dharavi by using land as a resource to cross-subsidize the cost of development through a sale component on the basis of the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme.
• The government also decided to notify the whole of Dharavi as an undeveloped area and to appoint a Special Planning Authority for its development.
• In 2011, the government cancelled all tenders and drew up a master plan.

More about Slum Rehabilitation Authority:

• The Government of Maharashtra has launched a comprehensive slum rehabilitation scheme by introducing an innovative concept of using land as a resource and allowing incentive floor space index (FSI) in the form of tenements for sale in the open market, for cross-subsidization of the slum rehabilitation tenements which are to be provided free to the slum-dwellers.

What are the jurisdiction of Slum Rehabilitation Authority:

• As per the provision 3A(1) of Chapter I-A of Maharashtra Slum Areas ( Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971 State Government of Maharashtra and through necessary statutory amendments has established Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), Mumbai to serve as Planning Authority for all Slum areas in the jurisdiction of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
• Subsequently the area of the Thane Municipal Corporation has been added in the jurisdiction of SRA.

What are different government initiative to manage slums:

• National Slum Development Programme (NSDP): Initiated in 1996, NSDP provided both loans and subsidies to states for slum rehabilitation projects on the basis of their urban slum population.
• Valmiki Ambedkar Malina Basti Awas Yozana (VAMBAY): Introduced in 2001, it focused on shelter for the urban poor, with 20% of total allocation for community sanitation facilities under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan program
• Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP): BSUP was an important component of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. BSUP aimed to provide basic services to urban poor in 63 of the largest cities in India by population
• Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme (IHSDP): Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) was launched by GoI by merging the schemes of NSDP and VAMBAY. The objective of the scheme is to provide adequate Shelter and basic infrastructure facilities to the slum dwellers in urban areas.
• Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor (ISHUP): The Scheme envisages the provision of interest subsidy to economically weak section and Low income groups to enable them to buy or construct houses.
• Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY): Launched in 2013, the scheme focussed on bringing existing slums within the formal system and enabling them to avail of the same level of basic amenities as the rest of the town;redressing the failures of the formal system that lie behind the creation of slums and tackling the shortages of urban land and housing that keep shelter out of reach of the urban poor.
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana– “Housing for All (Urban): Launched in 2015, the scheme seeks to provide central assistance to implementing agencies through States and UTs for providing houses to all beneficiaries by 2022. It incorporates the following:
• In-situ slum rehabilitation with participation of private developers using land as a resource. This approach aims to leverage the locked potential of land under slums to provide houses to the eligible slum dwellers bringing them into the formal urban settlement.
• Promotion of Affordable Housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy
• Affordable Housing in Partnership with Public & Private Sectors
• Subsidy for beneficiary led individual house construction/enhancement
• Slum areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, in the year 1956:The act aimed at mechanical improvement or complete eradication of slums. It empowers the competent authority to declare any slum area in accordance with the definition, look into possibilities of improvement or eradicate slums.