The Bombay High Court has declined to grant accreditation to a petitioner who has sought to set aside the tender made to the Adani group for the potentially transformative Dharavi Redevelopment Project.
It is a triumph for the group since legal challenges arose after a private firm questioned the award and sought a new contract. The plea arose from the cancellation of another tender in the same year 2019, but the court judgement has now opened a path for the project.
Dharavi, which many view as the biggest slum in the world, has become the subject of one of the biggest urban revitalization projects in India. This plan is to change the area and enhance living standards for the more than a million population of the locality.
Adani Group has embraced the campaign welcoming the project stating that their founder Gautam Adani has referred to it as a mission that will give back the dignity of the residents while offering them a sustainable place to live.
According to the redevelopment plan, the officials meant that residents who qualify to be relocated will benefit from new houses with individual kitchens and toilets. The area of each unit will be no less than 350 sq ft and that is significantly larger than in the other slum rehabilitation projects in Mumbai.
The scheme, costing Rs 23,000 crore, will focus on in-situ redevelopment, for dwellers residing in the Dharavi area as on January 1, 2000. Residents who will not fulfill this criterion will be provided homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana amongst other places but not in Dharavi.
The project has however faced some resistances. Some critics have expressed concern on perceived windfalls that are believed to be going to the Adani Group.
There have also been concerns raised on the railway land acquisition some of which have laid complaints of having been grabbed through irregular means.
But the insiders connected with the Dharavi Redevelopment Project stressed that the land was also purchased for 170 per cent of the current market prices to ensure legal and proper transactions were made.
This is a major consideration in the redevelopment of the area, based on the sustainable management of the physical environment. The project complies with Environmental, Social and Governance factors and seeks to increase the greener area in the area.
Adani Group has committed planting of four million trees across India and intends to do so more within the scope of the Dharavi project. The group is dedicated to achieving the proper symbiosis between development and nature conservation.
About the dispossession of land, sources want to put on record that it will not be done in direct terms to Adani Group but to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project.
The process has taken the government stipulated procedures of the Maharashtra Land Revenue framework. Also, third parties are carrying out surveys for the redevelopment and ensure that the government standards are met fully.
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