Mumbai: Congress to hold protest march on Nov 26 to oppose Dharavi redevelopment project

Varsha Gaikwad. File Pic

The Congress party's Mumbai unit will hold a massive protest march on Sunday to oppose the Dharavi redevelopment project, which will displace as many as 10 lakh Dharavi residents, the party said on Thursday.

The party said that the march will be held against the massive scam of 40 per cent TDR in the Dharavi redevelopment project. Mumbai Congress President and Dharavi MLA Varsha Gaikwad will lead the march in Dharavi and prominent leaders from the party will join the march.

According to the party, the march, which will be held in Dharavi on Sunday (November 26), is to protest the devious ploy of the state and central government to gift the project to their friend Adani.

"We will hold a protest march in Dharavi on Sunday to show how angry Dharavikars are. The government should take note of public ire and withdraw the project. They should make amendments and start the tendering process again," Varsha Gaikwad said.

Gaikwad also alleged that the state government is trying to displace the native Dharavikars who also operate micro industries. "Based on the information from the 1995 survey, the space would be allotted to Dharavi natives. But these will be far from Dharavi. There are many small-scale industries such as leather, cloth, pottery, and poultry farming. Dharavi has a separate identity, the government is bent on erasing it," Gaikwad said.

Dharavi Redevelopment Project was announced in 2018. The first time the tender process was conducted, global tenders were called for and it was a tender of Rs 7,200 crore wherein 19 people participated in this tender. "However, the tender was canceled citing the inclusion of railway land. In 2022, when this tender was brought back, many conditions from the old tender were changed. It is a direct attempt to hand over the project to Prime Minister's friend Dharavi," she said.

Meanwhile, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will also hold a big march in December. Varsha Gaikwad called on Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday. After the meeting, it was decided that in the month of December, all the allied partners of the MVA will bring out the march to oppose the tyranny of the Maharashtra government.