With so many slum developments in Mumbai, why is Dharavi so special?
Dharavi redevelopment has been conceptualised to be a path breaking initiative by the government on how to deal with in-city rehabilitation, and what better than to do it in an informal settlement of this size which is known as the biggest slum in Asia, which is not merely a slum, it is a city within a city. It is really an industrial, commercial hub with close to may be $1.5 billion turnover per year. Eighty percent of the residents draw their livelihood from within Dharavi. So when we refer to Dharavi redevelopment we have to be clear on the particular characteristics of this city called a slum. Why have past attempts to remake Dharavi failed and why do you think this one will succeed? In the past the thinking — even worldwide — with regard to rehabilitating informal settlements was, it comes down to security of tenure issue. But in Dharavi, people came up and said security of tenure was not an issue for them because a decade after the Slum Act came into effect in 1971, the governmen
