Mumbai: Displaced in Dharavi, unwelcome in Mulund

Senior citizens protesting

Mulund residents came out in droves on Sunday to form human chains in protest against BMC's Project Affected People (PAP) initiative and the state government's Dharavi rehabilitation project. Advocate Sagar Devre, who was convenor of the silent protest and who has already filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court against these projects, said, "These projects are going to put unreasonable pressure on civic resources and infrastructure of Mulund."

The civic body has decided to hand over two plots amounting to a total of 64 acres to the state government for the rehab project. The residents of Mulund East have been opposing the rehabilitation projects. The residents wrote emails, protested, and even met Chief Minister Ekanath Shinde. On Sunday, they formed a human chain to protest against the government and BMC rehabilitation colonies.

Mulund residents at the meeting after the protest. They have threatened to boycott the elections

"No political party was involved in this agitation and the citizens of Mulund purely organised this as every resident will be affected. If authorities don't respond to our peaceful agitation, we will have an aggressive one," Devre said. The protest ended with a meeting at Raje Sambhaji Garden of Mulund East, where a large number of people were present.

"If the government will not rethink the project, Mulund residents will also consider boycotting the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections," he added.
Mulund resident Gangadhar Tulsankar said that a sudden surge in the population of Mulund would result in all the basic facilities being stressed. "There will be problems with water availability, on roads and for parking space. Because of this, we are against these projects. We also discussed boycotting the elections during the meeting," he said.

Residents forming a human chain to protest

Anil Mankar said the population of Mulund East is currently around 1.5 to 2 lakh. "Due to these two projects, about 3 to 4 lakh citizens will be rehabilitated. If this population increases so quickly the infrastructure facilities here will collapse. Why do the government and BMC need Mulund to implement the rehabilitation project? Such projects should be set up in south and central Mumbai," he said.

The state government housing department had written to the civic chief on January 10 asking for 64 acres of land located at Mulund to be handed over to the Dharavi Rehabilitation Authority to develop rental housing for the rehabilitation of Dharavi families not eligible for the Dharavi Rehabilitation Project at Dharavi. The letter also cited a state cabinet decision in October 2022 in this regard. As per sources, the state government has demanded 18 acres of Octria Naka land and 46 acres of dumping ground land.

The state government plans to rehabilitate Dharavi residents at the entry point of Mumbai city while the BMC plans to rehabilitate around 8,000 project-affected families in Mulund East.

"We received a letter from the state government to hand over 64 acres," civic chief I S Chahal said. "We can't go against the instructions of the state government, so we decided to hand over the plots."

Chahal also stated that the BMC has started to clear a total of 70 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste to reclaim 61 acres of dumping ground land by June 2025. The civic body disposed of 24.41 lakh metric tonnes of waste by November 2023. An additional 11.84 lakh metric tonnes will be cleared by March and about 25.57 lakh metric tonnes will be disposed of in the next financial year. The BMC has made a budget provision of R100 crore for this project in 2024-25.

64 acres
Area of land BMC handed over for project