Dharavi’s only redeveloped colony faces encroachment

While the Dharavi makeover plan has been pending for the past six years, 80% of the Prime Minister’s Grant Programme (PMGP) Colony — the only redeveloped part of the slum — has already been encroached upon.

The only redevelopment in the area so far has been limited to the PMGP Colony where 4,800 houses of 225 sq ft were constructed using aid from the Centre. People affected by the construction of the 90 Feet Road and the Sion-Dharavi Link Road were given houses.

Sources in the Mumbai board of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) said that flats are being illegally sold for as high as Rs10-12 lakh by touts who are hand-in-glove with some Mhada officials.

“While Mhada has been shouting during its lotteries that no middlemen are authorised to sell its flats, irregularities are rife in its own backyard,” said a member, requesting anonymity.
While the authority’s vigilance department is unaware of the irregularities, a top Mhada official of the Repair and Reconstruction Board admitted to encroachment in many of the transit camps of Mhada, including in the PMGP colony. He said,

“We are aware about the menace of the touts and drastic steps are being initiated to prevent such illegal activities.”

In 1985, the then PM Rajiv Gandhi made a padayatra
to Dharavi and declared a grant of Rs100 crore for redeveloping what became the PMGP Colony. Gautam Chatterjee, the present Mhada vice-president, played a major role in the project. Ironically, while he still heads Mhada, his officers are involved in a scam to sell the very flats he helped build.