Mumbai: The Maharashtra government yesterday cleared the decks for the re-development of Asia's biggest slum, Dharavi, in north-central Mumbai, by amending the Development Control Rules (DCR) of the metropolis.
Announcing the decision hours before the State Election Commission (SEC) declared the poll schedule for Brihanmumbai and nine other municipal corporations in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said that re-development of Dharavi's sector-five, where a major part of the land is owned by the state government, would be undertaken first.
Chavan, who also holds the Housing and Urban Development portfolios, said that a 10-year corpus fund would be created, and the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) or any other public undertaking would function as the nodal agency for the re-development project.
Under the Dharavi slum re-development, the state government would allow a Floor Space Index of 4, besides allowing commercial development of a part of the land.
Rehabilitation
Being seen as a major sop doled by the Congress-led Democratic Front (DF) government for hutment dwellers in Mumbai ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation poll scheduled for February 16, the make-over of Dharavi slum's sector-five, involving a land of 21 hectares, will result in the rehabilitation of 9,387 families.
The deadline set for the completion of the project is seven years from the start of work on it. Under this project, infrastructure facilities like roads, toilets and gardens would be developed to improve people's standard of living.
