Slums

Oppn parties threaten to scrap India's largest real estate redevelopment project

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL), the firm redeveloping Asia's largest slums, on Thursday performed the groundbreaking ceremony (Bhoomi Poojan) of the Dharavi redevelopment project at the RPF grounds in Matunga. The pooja, conducted in an area called Sector 6, marks the auspicious beginning of the construction of Railway's staff quarters and offices to be handed over to the government, as mandated in the Dharavi Redevelopment tender documents, sources said. Already, the state government-led door-to-door survey to determine eligible and ineligible residents is on with an idea to speed up the redevelopment and to ensure inclusive development. The DRPPL, which is a joint venture between the state government and the Adani Group, has also moved in the direction envisaged by the Maharashtra government, which is on a mission to make Mumbai a slum-free city by 2030. Mapping of the roughly 600 acres of densely populated Dharavi is crucial for the redevelopment that is likel

The project, which aims to rehouse a million people, is a critical and high-profile project for Adani

The Bombay High Court on Friday said the vision should be to make Mumbai a slum-free city and raised concerns about the plight of slum dwellers who become "victims at the hands of private developers". A division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Somasekhar Sunderesan emphasised the need for strict and robust implementation of the Maharashtra Slum Area (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act. "Vision is to have Mumbai, which is considered an international city and the financial capital of our country, slum-free. We need to have an absolutely slum-free city. This Act will help that vision," the court said. The bench said the implementation of provisions of the Act lies with the government as the mandate lies with them. The bench was set up last week to undertake a "performance audit" of the Act pursuant to the Supreme Court's directives in July. The apex court had raised concerns about the working of the Act. The high court, on Friday, stressed the need for sustainable ...

About 65 shanties were gutted after a major fire broke out in local slum cluster in sector 65 here on Saturday, a fire official said. Initial investigations have revealed the cause of the fire was a cooking gas leakage, the official said. According to police, a fire broke out in the sector 65 area around 10 am. Five fire engines were immediately pressed into the service, they said, adding that the blaze was brought under control but 65 shanties were gutted. There were no casualties or burn injuries reported, the police said. After receiving the information, DCP South Siddhant Jain and his team reached the spot and evacuated many people, including small children, from the shanties. A senior police officer said these shanties were built by three persons -- Ombir, Shyambir and Sagar, residents of Ramgarh village -- who later handed them over to contractor Hamid, a native of West Bengal. Hamid used to rent out these shanties to migrants, charging Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000 per month, the ..

Notorious for drugs and crime and afflicted by large-scale poverty, the Khayelitsha township here is better known for being one of the biggest slums on the planet. But World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten is attempting to change the image for good through cricket. The idea struck him when he returned to his home here after guiding India to a World Cup title in 2011. "When I came back from India, I wanted to have a look at cricket in our poorest neighbourhoods in Cape Town," Kirsten recalled in an interview with PTI. He ended up touring Khayelitsha, situated 30km south-east of Cape Town and considered one of the most unsafe areas where a majority of the inhabitants still live in shacks. "I took a tour of the area with local school authorities and found that no cricket was happening which disappointed me a lot. I thought of this centre and we started with two concrete nets in two schools and then included three more schools," Kirsten said. What ultimately shaped up was the Catch Tru

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday alleged the BJP-led central government wants to demolish all slums in Delhi. Addressing a press conference, Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj said slums in the national capital are being demolished "in an inhuman manner" without rehabilitating the affected slum dwellers. Atishi alleged that in a meeting on January 9, the Centre directed land-owning agencies like the Delhi Development Authority and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to clear all slum clusters in the city. In November, a slum cluster between Sundar Nursery and Delhi Public School inhabited by about 1,000 to 1,500 people, most of whom worked as ragpickers, street hawkers, maids and labourers, was demolished following a court's order. The slum dwellers had claimed that they were asked to vacate their houses in two days with no offer from the government for relocation.

DRPPL is a joint venture between Adani Properties and Mumbai's Slum Rehabilitation Authority

While posing a complex challenge, slums also offer a unique opportunity for morally and economically imperative urban development

Colonies near Pragati Maidan cut off from the world outside, their residents stranded

Adani is at the helm of plans to redevelop Dharavi after the Maharashtra state government in July approved his $614 million contract bid to overhaul the slum

As many as 23,000 street children identified across the country with the help of a web portal are currently being rehabilitated, officials said on Friday. The identification process was carried out on 'Bal Swaraj' a website where information about such children is uploaded and tracked in order to rehabilitate them, a senior official said. According to officials, these children are categorised into three groups. The first category consists of children who have either run away from their homes or been abandoned by their families and are living on the streets alone. The second category comprises children living on the streets with their families. The third category includes children who live in slums and are out on the streets during the day but return to their homes at night, they said. Out of the 23,000 street children, 53 per cent stay on the streets with their families, 43 per cent stay on the street during the day and then return to their homes at night and 4 per cent live alone

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the demolition of a slum cluster at the site allotted to the NDRF for construction of its headquarters but directed that the exercise be carried out on June 15 instead of June 2. Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, while hearing a petition by the residents of the slum cluster Priyanka Gandhi Camp in Vasant Vihar, asked Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to consider the plea of the petitioners for rehabilitation and shift them to a temporary shelter in the meantime. "Notice of demolition dated May 19, 2023, which will be enforced from June 2, 2023, be extended to June 15, 2023.. We have not stopped. We are not staying it. We are saying shift the date, the deadline," said the judge. The counsel for the petitioner said the families have been residing in the area for the last three decades and were entitled to rehabilitation under the relocation policy of 2015 as the cluster was part of an additional list of 82 slums covered by it. She

Questions over Adani Group's ability to pull it off but the developer says the concern is unwarranted

Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Thursday made surprise visits to slum dwellings in Vikaspuri and directed officials to carry out renovation of a dhobi ghat and an MCD-run welfare centre there. Local MLA Mahendra Yadav and Councillor Sahib Kumar Asiwal apprised the mayor about the problems being faced by the residents of Vikaspuri, according to an official statement. "The mayor inspected the dhobi ghat at the jhuggi-jhopri colony in Hastsal. She expressed concern over the lack of facilities and the dilapidated condition of the dhobi ghat and instructed the officials to renovate infrastructure and ensure proper drainage," the statement read. The mayor also visited Kaali Basti JJ Colony in the ward and heard the problems of the local residents there. During this interaction, it came to light that some people tie their animals in public parks and places. For this, they have broken the boundary wall of a building that used to be a school, the statement said. The mayor directed that an FIR

Aam Aadmi Party workers on Saturday staged a protest outside the Delhi BJP office, days after the city government directed its Public Works Department to immediately withdraw an order to demolish slums located near Dhaula Kuan. The PWD had on December 29 issued a notice asking slum dwellers in the Dhaula Kuan area to vacate the land within 15 days. AAP MLA Somnath Bharti asserted that his party won't let anybody's house get demolished. "What is wrong with BJP? Why are they acting against the people of Delhi?" Another MLA Aadil Ahmad said the party's agitation against the demolition order will be taken to the streets near Parliament as well. "It was in the BJP's manifesto that all slum dwellers will be given a house at the same place where slums are. But now, they are sending notices to demolish slums," he said. The Delhi government, in its notice directing the PWD to withdraw the demolition order, said it was "inhuman" to do so at the peak of winter and without making an alternate

The Delhi BJP on Thursday issued a 'Wachan Patra' ahead of the MCD polls, promising to provide EWS flats to every slum dweller in the city. Polling for the municipal elections in Delhi will be held on December 4 and votes will be counted on December 7. The 'Wachan Patra' (pledge letter) released by Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, MP Manoj Tiwari and MCD poll management committee head Ashish Sood carried the pictures of flats allotted to slum dwellers recently in Kalkaji. The prime minister had handed over keys of the EWS flats to the beneficiaries of Bhoomiheen Camp slum in a function held at Vigyan Bhawan. Kejriwal government has never tried to improve the living condition of the slum dwellers but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proved his concern for the poor by providing good quality flats to them with all amenities, Gupta said. "The BJP is committed to provide such good quality flats as were built in Kalkaji to all the slum dwellers as per Jahan Jhuggi Wahin Makan scheme, "h

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated 3,024 newly constructed flats for the Economically Weaker Sections in Delhi as part of an in-situ slum rehabilitation project. He did the honours at a ceremony here which was also attended by the beneficiaries. Modi handed over the keys of the flats to many of them. This will give the slum dwellers a sense of ownership and security, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office had earlier said. The in-situ slum rehabilitation in 376 Jhuggi-Jhopri clusters is being undertaken by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in line with the prime minister's vision to provide housing for all, it said. Delhi LG Vinai Kumar Saxena and Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri were among those who attended the event.

The Delhi Development Authority has undertaken three such projects at Kalkaji Extension, Jailorwala Bagh, and Kathputli Colony.

The Government of Maharashtra responded that several efforts have been made and schemes formulated to provide dwelling units to the slum dwellers