ReDharavi

Acknowledgements 

This document has emerged from a partnership of disparate groups of concerned 

individuals and organizations who have been engaged with the issue of exploring 

sustainable housing solutions in the city of Mumbai. The Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi 

Institute of Architecture (KRVIA), which has compiled this document, contributed its 

professional expertise to a collaborative endeavour with Society for Promotion of Area 

Resource Centres (SPARC), an NGO involved with urban poverty. The discussion is 

an attempt to create a new language of sustainable urbanism and architecture for this 

metropolis. 

Thanks to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) authorities for sharing all the 

drawings and information related to Dharavi. This project has been actively guided 

and supported by members of the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) and 

Dharavi Bachao Andolan: especially Jockin, John, Anand, Savita, Anjali, Raju Korde and 

residents’ associations who helped with on-site documentation and data collection, and 

also participated in the design process by giving regular inputs. 

The project has evolved in stages during which different teams of researchers have 

contributed. Researchers and professionals of KRVIA’s Design Cell who worked on 

the Dharavi Redevelopment Project were Deepti Talpade, Ninad Pandit and Namrata 

Kapoor, in the first phase; Aditya Sawant and Namrata Rao in the second phase; and 

Sujay Kumarji, Kairavi Dua and Bindi Vasavada in the third phase. Thanks to all of them. 

We express our gratitude to Sweden’s Royal University College of Fine Arts, Stockholm, 

(DHARAVI: Documenting Informalities ) and Kalpana Sharma (Rediscovering Dharavi ) as 

also Sundar Burra and Shirish Patel for permitting the use of their writings. 

SPARC would like to thank those of its primary donors who support its work in Dharavi, 

including the production of this book, RE: Interpreting, Imagining, Developing DHARAVI. 

The donors are: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in the 

U.K.; Sir Dorabji Tata Trust in India; Katholishe Zentralstelle für Entwcklungshilfe e.V 

(MISEREOR) in Germany; and the Rockefeller Foundation in the U.S.A. We also thank 

Slum/Shack Dwellers Federation (SDI) which has consistently supported the process, 

including publication of this work. 

Most of all, special thanks to the people of Dharavi who shared their experiences with 

us and helped with on-site data collection. 

Aneerudha Paul, Director, KRVIA 

Sheela Patel, Director, SPARC 

November 2010, Mumbai 

Credits 

Design: Abhinav Shaw 

Editing: Rani Day 

Editorial Team: Sheela Patel, Aneerudha Paul, Sundar Burra, Bindi Vasavada, 

Sujay Kumarji and Kairavi Dua. 

Photographs: Abhinav Shaw, KRVIA & SPARC Archive. 

SPARC 

Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres, 

2nd Floor, Marathi Municipal School, 

1st Khetwadi Lane, Mumbai 400 004 

Tel. +91 22 23858785, +91 22 23865053, 

sparc@sparcindia.org 

www.sparcindia.org 

KRVIA 

Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture 

and Environmental Studies, 

Vidyanidhi Marg, Off 10th Rd, 

Juhu Scheme, Mumbai 400 049 

Tel. +91 22 26700918, +91 22 26208539 

admin@krvia.ac.in 

www.krvia.ac.in 

3

Contents 

Introduction: 

Building a World Class Model for Slum Redevelopment 06 

Section one: dharavi Story 

Locating Dharavi 10 

Land of High Returns 

City of Enterprise 14 

Leather 

Textiles and Tailoring 18 

Food-Making 

Pottery 22 

Recycling 

Surgical Thread 26 

Kite Factory 

Gold & Jewellery 26 

Printing 

History: Before Bombay there was Dharavi 28 

Section two: makeover or takeover? 

Development For Whom? 36 

Process of Resistance 

Impact! 53 

Section three: an alternative Strategy 

Grouping Together: 60 

Co-operative Housing Societies 61 

Chawls & Nagars 

Ambiguous Clusters 63 

Existing Zones: Commercial & Residential 64 

SRA Buildings & Private Lands 

Public Toilets 66 

Roads & Alleys 

Institutions 68 

Multi-Functional & Residential Open Spaces 

Strategy to Prepare a Master Plan 70 

Objectives of the Master Plan 

Strategy: 72 

Strengthening of Roads 

Strengthening of Open Spaces 74 

FSI & Density Plans 

To Each its own Scenario 76 

Scenario 1 

Scenario 2 78 

Afterwords: Working Together, Learning Together 80 

09 

34 

54 

5

Introduction 

Building a world claSS model for 

Slum redevelopment 

by Sheela Patel, Director, SPARC 

The metropolis of Mumbai is often called Slumbai or Slumbay with probably the 

largest number of slum-dwellers in the world (over six milion). Dharavi – really an 

informal township within the metropolis – is one of the world’s 30 mega-slums 

and Asia’s largest. Spread over 525 acres, it presents a very vibrant mosaic of 

tens of thousands of small businesses and hundreds of thousands of residents 

of different religions, castes, languages, provinces, and ethnicities, dependent 

on one another and the city socially, culturally and economically. Its enterprising 

residents manufacture garments, leather goods, foods and pottery, besides 

running a flourishing – and unique – recycling business. 

Dharavi has literally risen from the marshes. First the houses had stilts, then 

the land was reclaimed little by little, then built up brick by brick. In other 

words, it is a testament to the survival instincts of the poor – and the success 

of incremental development. Bit by bit, the poor developed the land, raised 

families and neighbourhoods, then a full-fledged township as generation after 

generation went to work. Official support for these incremental processes 

were signalled when the city provided urban infrastructure and services such 

as clean piped water, sewage systems, roads and social services in the mideighties. 

Dharavi was recently in the centre of a storm – with clouds of different 

development plans hovering overhead. Global capital investment companies, 

local real estate developers and the State Government have all been viewing 

Dharavi as a privileged gateway to Mumbai’s transformation. The question is: 

Will these clouds disperse? 

Current redevelopment proposals seem to view Dharavi as a green field on 

which fresh structures and thoroughfares are still to come up – ignoring 

the deeply-rooted habitat that already exists. If these proposals are left 

unchallenged, it could threaten the lives and businesses of many residents. 

Now, suddenly, outsiders are drawing up plans without the involvement of 

the residents of Dharavi, plans which seem to devalue everything the local 

residents do and have done and which do not take into account their long-term 

investments and overall interests . 

The truth is that the drive to redevelop Dharavi is propelled by the very large 

profits that developers and the State Government have their eyes on. Poor 

people in urban settlements have mostly been neglected in the global South, 

and there is an increasing gap between the planned, formal city and its 

informal shadow. The irony is that official cities draw heavily on the labour and 

vigour of slum or shanty residents but very rarely do cities support these 

workers. 

To the State, Dharavi (like Kibera in Nairobi, one of Africa’s largest slums) 

represents a long-standing development nightmare – for which it has not been 

able to develop any successful policies for upgradation and improvement on 

scale. To the global financial institutions, it is, briefly said, a gold mine. 

But new policy is not forthcoming from city planners to reduce the risks of 

lending to the poor, nor is there enough money available to replace these selfbuilt 

shelters. Global investors don’t have the knowledge or the will to manage 

decentralised, incremental investments which communities in Dharavi have 

evolved into a fine art. 

There are silver linings to the clouds, however. The Government of Maharashtra, 

originally in a state of denial about the discontent of the residents, now accepts 

the imperative to lend an ear to their voices. Of course, Dharavi residents and 

dissidents don’t want to block development or investment per se; they simply 

want to ensure that it will fuel progress for them as much as for the city at large. 

Dharavi has a lot to teach us about how informal settlements generate 

solutions for the demands of small businesses and housing. Flexible work 

schedules,home-based occupations, enterprises of various scales that 

interconnect with residences – this is the reality of how the poor not only 

survive, but thrive without handouts or charity. 

The intention of this book is to suggest guidelines for future redevelopment of 

slums – a redevelopment that is not thrust upon the residents from outside, but 

one that is rooted in a local and participatory environment. 

When I speak at workshops and conferences, there are many discussions 

about ‘world class’ cities. If we work it out right, Mumbai has the potential to 

develop a ‘world class’ model for slum redevelopment through consensual and 

incremental upgrading. All the required ingredients are there. Only the political 

leadership must have the courage to go ahead. We believe it can be done. 

6 7

dharavi Story Section one

MUMBAI 

Locating Dharavi 

In relation to Mumbai, Dharavi is remarkably well located: a triangular land in 

the heart of the city, it is served by railway lines on two sides and bounded by 

the Mahim Creek and its mangroves on the third. The Mahim, Matunga and Sion 

train stations mark three corners; the arterial Western Express Highway passes 

along its northern border. 

As Mumbai developed over the years and stretched northwards into the 

suburbs to accommodate the steadily growing population, Dharavi, which 

started out as a fishing village located on the northern tip of Parel island, was 

inevitably drawn into the centre of the city. 

Dharavi is in the neighbourhood of the important new business district, the 

Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) – a counter-magnet to the old Central Business 

District (CBD) in south Mumbai. The BKC is just south of the airport, so in many 

ways it is more convenient to reach than the CBD. That Dharavi rubs shoulders 

with BKC, and that it is exceptionally well served by mass transport, makes it of 

huge interest to real estate promoters and developers…the small fishing village 

of the 18th century has come a long way indeed! 

dharavi 

Bandra 

ShivaJi park 

mahim 

dadar 

matunga 

Bkc 

king’S circle 

Sion 

kurla 

11

35000 

30000 

25000 

20000 

15000 

10000 

5000 

Land of High Return$ 

[inr] [inr] 

0 

[year] 

0 

2007 2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2010 

real estate prices 

residential 

commercial 

Bandra [w] 

mahim 

Sion 

kurla 

40000 

35000 

30000 

25000 

20000 

15000 

10000 

5000 

Bkc 

Bandra [w] 

mahim 

Sion 

kurla 

[year] 

The Bandra-Kurla complex, the posh new business district in the 

neighbourhood of Dharavi, with its very high commercial real estate value has 

made Dharavi a ‘hot property’ indeed. Dharavi was once a fishing village on the 

backwaters of one of the seven islands of Mumbai…cleared and revamped, it 

would count among the most valuable real estate in the world! 

To the global financial institutions, Dharavi is, 

briefly said, a 

GOLD MINE 

Bandra 

mahim 

dharavi 

Bkc 

Sion 

kurla 

13

City of Enterprise 

The atmosphere in Dharavi, even on a holiday, is like being on a treadmill. 

Everyone is busy – few people hang about. The streets are lined with hawkers 

selling everything from safety pins to fruits and suitcases. Behind them are a 

fascinating array of shops: Satkar Jewellers, Ration Shop, Bhupendra Steel, 

Husain Hotel, Swastik Electric & Hardware, Shreenath Jewellers and Mumbai 

Polyclinic – that is a typical collection on 90 Feet Road. Hindu, Muslim, south, 

north, food, jewellery, hardware, health care, all down one street! 

If you want to eat the best gulab jamuns in town, buy the best chikki, acquire 

an export-quality leather handbag, order World Health Organization-certified 

sutures for surgery, see the latest design in ready-made garments made for 

export, get a new suitcase or an old one repaired, taste food from the north 

and the south, see traditional south Indian gold jewellery – there are few better 

places in all of Mumbai than Dharavi. 

Estimates of the daily turnover of Dharavi can only be guesstimates as few 

people will actually acknowledge how much they earn for fear that some official 

will descend upon them. Much of the production here is unregistered with any 

authority. But there is little doubt that it runs into crores of rupees. A rough 

back-of-the-envelope calculation by Dharavi residents added up to between Rs 

1,500 crore and Rs 2,000 crore per year or at least Rs 5 crore a day! Dharavi 

is a ‘gold mine’ without even considering property prices! 

A 1986 survey of Dharavi by the National Slum Dwellers’ Federation (NSDF) 

counted 1,044 manufacturing units of all kinds, big and small. A later survey 

by the Society for Human and Environmental Development (SHED) noted 1,700 

units. The actual number is likely to be larger as many smaller units, which work 

out of homes and lofts, would have fallen outside the scope of the surveys. 

The NSDF survey estimated there were 244 small-scale manufacturers 

employing from 5 to 10 persons each. The 43 big industries recorded in the 

survey were probably only medium-scale production units. According to the 

survey, there were 152 units making a variety of food items like chikki, papad 

and chana dal; 50 printing presses; 111 restaurants; 722 scrap and recycling 

units; 85 units working entirely for exports; and 25 bakeries. 

Dharavi’s gullies have their share of success stories: illicit-booze brewers who 

have switched to baking bread, a one-time tea-boy who exports ready-mades 

to US malls, a one-time low level employee in a coal company who has moved 

way up in life – to a high-rise apartment! So no surprise that a 12-year old boy 

working on a 12-hour shift in a tailoring unit dares to dream, 

“When I grow up, maybe I’ll 

also own a factory!” 

leather 

Most persons involved with the leather industry are UP Muslims or Muslims/ 

Hindus from Tamilnadu. There are a number of Maharashtrians also making 

bags and wallets. A singular exception is the Parsi, Darab Pedar, who has set 

up his own tannery in Aurangabad. Hides are procured from Deonar, salted, 

then despatched to Aurangabad. He estimates the annual turnover in the raw 

leather business in Dharavi to be around Rs.60 crore. With tanneries banned on 

grounds of pollution, Dharavi’s main leather business today is of finished goods, 

there being about 30 large leather goods manufacturers and about 5,000 

persons doing jobwork. 

teXtileS & tailoring 

Smaller jobbers can make around Rs.7 lakh per year and the bigger ones on an 

average, double that amount. Workers, mainly from Bihar and some from 

Tamilnadu, are usually paid on a piece-rate basis and can earn upto Rs.150 per 

day, with a unit on an average producing 500 to 600 shirts per day. A single 

large unit can have a turnover of almost Rs.70 lakh a year. A rough estimate of 

people employed in textiles and tailoring in Dharavi is 500, with another 100 

(mainly young boys from Bengal and Bihar ) doing hand embroidery or zardozi, 

and machine embroidery (done mainly by Bengalis). 

food induStry 

The all-India women’s organization called Shri Mahila Griha Udhyog Lijjat Papad 

is 40,000 members strong. In Mumbai, Lijjat has 8,000 registered members 

who roll out papads (cracker or flat bread) to earn extra money. Around 50 of 

them live in Dharavi, earning an average of Rs.50 to Rs.60 per day. Dharavi’s 

famous Mamu Bakery daily produces 150 kg of khari and 100 kg of butter 

biscuits which are in great demand. The best paid are those who tend the 

ovens and they earn Rs.80 per day. Next in line are the kneaders who make 

the dough, and lastly, the packers and cleaners who get paid around Rs.25 

per day. When the first bakery was set up in 1952, there were only two others; 

today, there are over 25 bakeries in Dharavi. 

recycling 

According to the NSDF survey, Dharavi’s plastic recycling industry is the largest 

in India employing over 5,000 people. The turnover in 1986 was an 

estimated Rs.60 lakh a year and should be many times higher now. Every day, 

at least 3,000 sacks of plastic leave this area. The recyclers are paid daily 

wages of Rs. 40 to Rs.45 per day for eleven hours of work. There are around 

722 small and big establishments, of which 359 are licensed. 

pottery 

There are around 2,000 families involved in pottery making. It takes about 4 

hours to make around a 100 big garden pots, which are sold to a trader at a 

fixed price. 

(based on extracts from ‘Rediscovering Dharavi’. Figures quoted in this section relate to an earlier 

time and would have undergone significant upward revision.) 

14 15

Leather 

Leather production was one of the 

first industries to be established in 

Dharavi. Muslim tanners migrated 

from Tamilnadu to Mumbai in the mid- 

1800s but had to shift to the swampy 

outskirts since leather manufacturing 

processes were considered 

unsuitable for the growing business 

centre in south Mumbai. Thus the 

first tannery came up in Dharavi in 

1887. The business grew steadily as 

migrating workers moved into the 

metropolis in search of work. 

Leather manufacturing processes 

include tanning or cleaning hides with 

chemicals, and dyeing before the 

leather is fashioned into the finished 

products showcased in Chamda 

(leather) Bazaar. Pollution of air and 

water by tanning led to a city ban on 

tanning in 1996. Although 27 out of 

the 39 tanneries were given alternative 

land near the abattoir in further-away 

Deonar, mainly the larger ones shifted. 

But the days of leather tanning are 

more or less over in Dharavi – though 

a few tanneries continue to operate 

despite the ban. The industry now 

buys its tanned hides from Deonar. 

Damodar Kamble, who came at 15 

to Dharavi because being a cobbler 

earned him little money, worked in 

a leather factory here for 15 years… 

Today, his is the only business making 

‘uppers’ for shoes, to which soles 

are added elsewhere, then exported 

to Australia and Japan. He had no 

workers to start with; now he employs 

20 people and his turnover is over a 

crore of rupees. 

Today, finished leather goods have 

taken over as the main leather 

business. Many of the goods on 

display are either surplus or rejects 

from export orders placed with leather 

goods manufacturers in Dharavi. 

Customers from all over the city flock 

here in increasing numbers – globally 

too, the leather industry is expanding. 

While these most beautifully finished 

and crafted leather goods sit in airconditioned 

splendour, the men who 

labour over them work in cramped 

lofts or workshops, in bad light, 

poor ventilation and stifling heat. 

Tough conditions regardless, the 

leather business continues to be the 

dominant trade with which Dharavi is 

associated. 

16 17

Textiles & Tailoring 

There are many rags to riches stories 

in this business: Waqar, who used to 

sell bananas, now has twelve workers 

and three shops and sells shirts all 

over India, or Mustaqeem from UP 

who started out at 13 as a cleaner and 

tea-boy in a factory and today exports 

garments to the United States. 

The origins of the textile industry – 

another major business in Dharavi – 

can be traced back to the decline and 

fall of the textile industry in Bombay 

of the 1950s and 60s. This led to the 

development of an informal textile 

industry in Dharavi, with separate 

units (weaving, printing, tailoring, etc.) 

working on a collaborative basis to 

produce garments. Dharavi handles a 

lot of outsourced work from garment 

companies and jeans manufacturers 

the world over. 

Besides, a number of people are 

involved in ancillary jobs such as hand 

embroidery or ‘zardosi’ and machine 

embroidery (mostly for the local 

market). 

18 19

20 

Food-Making 

Chivda, boondi, sev, gathiyas…all 

tasty, savoury snacks made from rice 

flakes or chickpea flour are part of 

Dharavi’s food-making industry which 

is largely home-based. The sweet 

chikki, made of peanuts and jaggery, 

is a very popular item, not to forget 

the salty khari biscuits, the delicious 

butter biscuits, and fresh slicedbread 

and buns made in Dharavi’s 25 

bakeries. 

The making of papads (cracker or flat 

bread) relies on the usage of open 

spaces like courtyards or terraces 

for drying of the wet papads. But 

in crowded Dharavi, ingenious 

housewives manage to make the 

biggest use of the smallest of spaces. 

The Punjabi Ghasitaram Halwai 

Karachiwala factory in Dharavi is the 

largest sweets factory in Mumbai and 

maybe in India. It is said to use 2,000 

litres of buffalo milk and 800 litres of 

cow milk everyday. Very interestingly, 

workers from different regions 

produce the sweets of their region 

– so the Bengalis make chamchams 

and rosgollahs, the Punjabis make 

ladoos and gulab jamuns, the 

Maharashtrians make kaju katri and 

barfis and the bhaiyyas (migrants from 

Uttar Pradesh)make samosas. 

Not so far away, at the crossroads, 

are the shops selling savouries and 

sweets manufactured in the homes 

just behind the shops. Ramaswamy 

is one of the 27 chikki-makers 

from Tamilnadu, whose leader is a 

Muslim and who is considered the 

father of their tribe. Ramaswamy’s 

wife speaks only Tamil, but their 

daughter is studying to be a chartered 

accountant. Thanks to the sweet 

profits from chikki! 

The world’s most complex lunch 

distribution network operates 

in Mumbai: it’s an elaborate 

choreographing of the collection 

and delivery of more than 200,000 

tin lunch boxes to office and other 

workers all across the city, and their 

return to source. So efficient is the 

system that according to a recent 

survey, there is only one mistake in 

every 16,000,000 deliveries. Dharavi 

runs a flourishing dabba kitchen too. 

The concept of the lunchbox courier 

(Dabbawala) originated in the 1880s 

when India was under British rule. 

Many Britishers opting for homecooked 

rather than local food, used 

this service to have lunch brought to 

their worktables. 

21

22 

Pottery 

Twelve and a half acres of prime property in Dharavi at the junction of the 90-60 

Feet Roads is named after the migrant potters from Gujarat: ‘Kumbharwada’ 

(Potters’ Colony). Like many communities who came to seek their fortunes in 

the island city, they were shifted out of the then emergent city centre in south 

Bombay, and resettled in Dharavi. 

250 potters’ families who live here have a special place in the community, their 

business being as old as Dharavi itself. Their houses, combining home and 

workplace, have an interesting design, narrow and long structures with two 

entrances: one opens onto the yard where production happens and where the 

shared bhatti or kiln is sited; the other entrance opens onto the street, where 

the finished goods are displayed and sold. Though, compared to other trades, 

the Kumbhars enjoy more space, their business has not seen a boom as some 

others since it caters to a localised clientele. 

23

24 

Recycling 

First, the paper labels on the water 

bottles are torn off by hand and sent 

for further recycling into rough paper, 

then the blue caps get taken off. 

The bottles are next despatched to 

small workshops where the plastic 

is chopped into small flakes that can 

either be exported or melted into 

pellets for further use in the plastic 

industry. China is a big buyer of this 

kind of crude plastic. 

New products are made for further 

export around the globe. Products 

we sit on, such as cushions and 

soft seats as well as blankets, use a 

stuffing made from these recycled 

bottles. Also, the popular material for 

warm clothing called ‘polyester fleece’ 

originates from these bottles. Did 

you know: Every 150 fleeces made 

from plastic bottles saves a barrel of 

oil (about 160 litres) and avoids about 

500 kg. of toxic air pollution? 

Not many know that Dharavi’s unique 

plastic recycling industry is the largest 

in India (National Slum Dwellers 

Federation survey). There are over 

700 small and big establishments, 

employing over 5,000 people; the 

turnover in 1986 was an estimated Rs 

60 lakh a year. 

Most of the garbage generated by 

consumer-oriented Mumbaikars 

arrives at Dharavi in big bags or 

containers. Collected from all over 

the city, the garbage has already 

gone through some rough sorting by 

garbage pickers; now, a more careful 

sorting is done for further processing 

at the 13th Compound, where the 60 

Feet Road meets the Mahim-Sion 

Link Road. This is the famed 13th 

Compound – where everything gets 

recycled. Oil cans, plastic drums, 

chemical drums, cotton scrap, iron 

scrap, empty tins, empty bottles and 

plastic drums, anything. Every day, at 

least 3,000 sacks of plastic leave this 

area. And what doesn’t get recycled 

gets cleaned and sold second-hand, 

such as chemical drums which serve 

as good water containers the second 

time round. 

A worrisome question is: will the 

Recycling Compound go the way of 

the tanneries…so as to make way 

for yet more housing on prime real 

estate? 

25

26 

Surgical Thread 

Proximity to Deonar also produced another trade – the making of sutures 

from goat intestines. Abdul Baqua, who came to Dharavi at age thirteen, tried 

various trades in various places, till he joined his friend in making sutures. From 

making sutures for big companies like Johnson & Johnson, Baqua went on to 

set up his own firm in Dharavi which exports to more than 100 countries. 

Even if the outer setting is unattractive and interior arrangements may not look 

very high-tech, Baqua is very proud that his Dharavi lab is WHO-certified and 

as clean and hygienic as the hospital where the sutures will be used. 

Kite Factory 

Recycled plastic, paper and cellophane from the Dharavi recycling business 

and wood from Kolkata are used to make kites, and also recycled file folders. 

The kites are not for export: they are made for the local market and particularly 

for festivals like Makar Sankranti and Diwali. 

Kite strings – wielded to cut each other’s kites in kite fights – are also made 

locally and known as manja (a mix of ground glass and chemical glue coating 

the thread). 

Gold & Jewellery 

Along narrow lanes hidden from the outside world are the workshops for gold 

refining, jewellery-making and polishing; fronting them on the main road are 

a line of glittering jewellery shops. In this trade, you will find a mix of people 

from a number of States – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bengal and Tamilnadu and a 

combination of Hindus and Muslims too. 

Printing 

All departments of the printing industry are present in Dharavi – graphic 

designers, art directors, editors, printers, even paper suppliers and die cutters – 

catering to both national and international customers. 

The units here range in scale from individuals working from their homes or 

small premises to produce material for use within Dharavi to large companies 

producing digitally-printed Bollywood posters and roadside advertisements 

stretching 20 metres wide. Also, there’s a wide range in the printing machinery 

employed, right from old-time pedal driven letterpress machines to screen 

printing studios and the latest digital printers. 

All this and more... 

Dharavi is home and workplace to about 6,00,000 people who live and 

work here. So all kind of services are available here as in the formal city: 

hairdressers, laundries, restaurants, cobblers, craftsmen, entertainers and 

grocery shops. 

You name it – Dharavi will produce it! 

27

28 

History 

Before Bombay, there was Dharavi… 

In pre-colonial times, Dharavi, located on the northernmost tip of Parel 

island, was the home of the Koli fishing community – and the Mahim Creek, 

their source of fish and livelihood for centuries. Indeed, one of the Bombay 

Gazetteers mentions Dharavi as one of the ‘six great Koliwadas of Bombay’. 

Further history could be broadly divided into three stages: 

- Colonial 

- Post-Independence 

- Post-1981 (when the Development Plan of Dharavi was proposed and later 

when the Dharavi Redevelopment Project was initiated). 

colonial 

16th - 20th century 

The Portugese were the first colonists to stake their claim to the seven islands 

of Bombay in the 16th century: they built a small fort and church at Bandra, 

on the opposite shore from Dharavi… the years passed, the Koli fishermen 

continued to fish in the Creek… 

The Riwa (Rehwa) Fort at Dharavi, locally known as ‘Kala Qilla’, was built in 1737 

by the second British governor of Bombay, Gerald Aungier, on the banks of the 

Mithi River. It was part of the larger British-built Bombay Castle. 

Once upon a time, Riwa Fort served the British as a watchtower, guarding the 

territory against attacks from the Portuguese-held (and later Maratha-held) 

Salsette Island. Today, in decaying condition, it watches over a sea of huts and 

shops. 

At the beginning of the 18th century, some of the swamps and salt pans 

separating the islands of Bombay began to be reclaimed – joining all seven 

islands into one long tapering land mass. Thus began the makeover of 

Bombay... 

Parel and Mahim were now positioned on the outskirts of the Island City. 

But in the process of reclamation, the Mahim Creek dried up, the fisherfolk were 

left stranded, and the newly-surfaced marshy land offered new space for new 

communities to move in. 

Worli 

Mahim 

Dharavi 

Riwa Fort 

1812 -16 

‘the island of Bombay’ 

map by capt. thomas 

dickinson clearly shows 

the presence of a fishing 

village (koliwada). 

29

30 

Imagine yourself looking out from Mahim station in the latter half of the 1800s… 

the old fishing village lies to the left, some small industrial sheds and residences 

break up the flat, swampy landscape…people drag carts with goods along dirt 

roads. To the right, smoke rises from the potters’ kilns; further off, near the 

horizon, the tall smokestacks of textile mills jut into the sky… 

The story of Dharavi’s development is closely interwoven with the pattern of 

migration into Bombay. The first people to settle there did so because the 

land, mainly used as an informal rubbish dump, was free and unregulated. The 

marshy land slowly grew more solid but even till the mid-1900s, parts were so 

wet, people had to build foot-bridges to cross over. 

The first migrations to Bombay were from Maharashtra and nearby areas like 

the Konkan and Gujarat. Communities first settled in south Bombay but, as the 

city grew, authorities pushed them to what was then the city’s edge. 

By end-1800s, the potters from Saurashtra were relocated here and set up their 

colony (Kumbharwada), as also the Muslim leather tanners from Tamilnadu 

(because of the proximity of the abattoir in Bandra). Artisans and embroidery 

workers from Uttar Pradesh started the ready-made garments trade, and 

Tamilians set up a flourishing business, making savouries and sweets. Dharavi 

thus became an amazing mosaic of villages and townships from all over India 

- different religions, languages, and entrepreneurs all surviving shoulder to 

shoulder. 

dharavi over the yearS 

1800 1864 1897 1933 1969 

growth of dharavi 

1737 

riwa fort 

( Courtesy: Wikipedia ) 

31

32 

poSt-independence 

Bombay, an industrial city, was always in need of cheap labour. But evictions 

in the Island City from 1940 to post-Independence in the 1960s drove large 

numbers of slum dwellers and pavement dwellers, especially in the dock areas, 

to new areas beyond Dadar’s King Circle, the then boundary of Bombay. 

One of those areas was Dharavi. As long as Dharavi was on the edge of the 

city, the authorities could ignore its existence – send its ‘illegal’ squatters there, 

or ignore the brewing of illicit liquor. But as Bombay expanded northwards and 

its population grew with new industries, the pressure on land increased, and 

Dharavi was drawn into the heart of the city… 

1971-74 

According to the Maharashtra Slum Areas Improvement, Clearance and 

Redevelopment Act, Dharavi was declared a slum in 1971, and its people 

provided with taps, toilets and electrical connections. 

The Sion-Mahim-Link road, the 60 Feet and 90 Feet roads, were all built around 

this time; sewer and water lines were laid down. 

Transit Camps were built to relocate people whose homes came in the way of 

new roads and other infrastructural projects. 

1981 & after 

1981 

A Development Plan was prepared for the whole city including Dharavi. 

1985 

When Rajiv Gandhi earmarked Rs. 100 crores for the improvement of 

infrastructure and housing for the whole city of Bombay, a third of that sum was 

reserved for Dharavi. The Prime Minister’s Grant Project (PMGP) was initiated 

in 1987 and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) 

declared the Special Planning Authority (SPA) for Dharavi. 

in 1995, 

the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme was launched by the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya 

Janata Party Government, promising free houses to all slum dwellers. (In 1996, 

Bombay was renamed ‘Mumbai’.) Over 85 new buildings were constructed in 

Dharavi in the period upto 2004. The majority of TDR (Transferred Development 

Rights) generated from the project were sold for use outside Dharavi. 

2004 

In 2004, the Government of Maharashtra accepted the Dharavi Redevelopment 

Plan. The plan was to divide Dharavi into five sectors, invite bids from national/ 

international players and provide free housing for eligible slum dwellers of 

Dharavi, as also free infrastructure. Concessions in terms of extra built-up area 

were to be given to the bidders to pay for the project by exploiting the value of 

the land. 

deveplopment plan 0f dharavi 

RAILWAYS 

ROADWAYS 

60ft 

90ft 

hoSpital 

municipal primary School 

Secondary School 

Service induStrial eState 

municipal hoSpital 

police Station 

playground 

recreational ground 

municipal/private/retail market 

municipal houSing 

cemetery 

reSidential Zone 

Service induStrial Zone 

general induStrial Zone

SECTION TWO MAKEOVER OR 

TAKEOVER?

36 

Development for Whom? 

Sundar Burra, Adviser, SPARC 

The late management guru, C.K. Prahalad, wrote a book titled The Fortune at 

the Bottom of the Pyramid. The book became a best-seller because it brought 

out how the poor are a huge and relatively untapped market for industry. It 

advised companies to tailor their strategies keeping in mind the circumstances 

of the poor. For example, the success of selling small sachets of tea, sugar or 

shampoo lay in the realization that poor people can spend only small amounts 

at a time. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the original plan to 

redevelop Dharavi intended to make a fortune by exploiting the value of the 

land, which was the base of the pyramid of poor people's lives. 

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) plan, as originally conceived a few 

years ago, envisaged the division of Dharavi into 5 sectors. Bids were invited 

from consortia of international and national developers to provide free housing 

and infrastructure for the residents of Dharavi. The developers were to pay a 

premium to the Government and, in return, were to get incentive Floor Space 

Index (FSI) so that they could build more commercial and other structures to 

sell in the open market. A part of the profit was to cross-subsidize the free 

housing and infrastructure. Given the inflated land prices in the area, developers 

would have made windfall gains and Government would have earned substantial 

revenues. But the question that people ask is: should land be seen primarily as 

a source of revenue for developer and government? 

There are many objections to the mode of redevelopment of Dharavi originally 

proposed. For lack of space, we will focus upon a few of them. Perhaps the 

most important objection is that the entire plan was conceived without any 

community participation and is a classic example of top-down planning. 

Worse, the plan tried to explicitly do away with people's consent for the kind 

of development that was to take place. In earlier slum rehabilitation schemes, 

the consent of at least 70% of slum dwellers was mandatory and, even if 

this provision was improperly implemented, there was a democratic check 

on the designs of the developers. If the people are not consulted at all in the 

process of redevelopment, the question arises as to whose interests such 

redevelopment serves. The answer, unsurprisingly, is global capital and its local 

affiliates. 

1 

3 

4 

2 

5 

5 SECTOR PlAN 

STANdARd 

MASTER PlAN 

37

38 

The question of community participation or democratic involvement is not just 

a theoretical or academic issue nor is it trivial - it goes to the heart of the idea 

of development. Turning your back on people's participation can be enormously 

damaging. For example, the kinds of urban form and design that the plan had 

envisaged would have meant the destruction of the livelihoods of the residents 

of Dharavi. The special feature of Dharavi is the intricate connection between 

residence and work-place since about 80% of its population both live and work 

there. Buildings of 30 storeys or 50 storeys would not allow the plethora of 

small businesses and enterprises to survive. If people's livelihoods were to be 

destroyed, they would no longer continue to live in the new Dharavi but rather, 

they would shift to a slum where they could continue earning a living. Given the 

shortage of housing in Mumbai at all levels, this newly-built housing would have 

rapidly changed hands and the area would have become gentrified. Dharavi 

would have become a huge housing and commercial complex but with no place 

for the poor. 

It needs to be underlined that when the original plans were proposed, there was 

no baseline survey, there was no transport study, there was no environmental 

assessment and there was no mechanism to coordinate the proposed 

infrastructures in different sectors amongst themselves, and between them and 

the rest of the city’s infrastructure. 

In a situation where water and electricity are in short supply, was there any 

attempt to assess whether these goods and services would be available in 

adequate quantity in the new Dharavi? In the absence of a survey, it was not 

known how many families would have to be resettled. Again, considering the 

fact that a majority of huts in Dharavi have one or two mezzanine floors, there 

had been no attempt to count them and consider the eligibility for rehabilitation 

of those persons and families living and working there. On the administrative 

side, no procedures were prescribed for grievance redressal or adjudication of 

conflicting interests. Another extraordinary aspect is that no Development Plan 

- as required by statute - was prepared for Dharavi! 

For reasons not wholly clear, it appears that the original plan has been shelved - 

at least for the time being. The global financial crisis and the many uncertainties 

that bedevil the project have led to most of the foreign partners withdrawing 

from the fray. It may also be that resistance from the residents of Dharavi 

contributed to that outcome. 

The National Slum Dwellers Federation has had a presence in Dharavi for many 

years through its local affiliate, the Dharavi Vikas Samiti (Dharavi Development 

Committee). Over the past few years, the residents of Dharavi have come 

together in a rainbow coalition of political parties, NGOs, different social 

formations and individuals to form the Dharavi Bachao Andolan or Save Dharavi 

Campaign. This grassroots group opposed the existing plans and started 

working with a group of professionals, retired bureaucrats, architects, planners 

and NGO representatives, later transformed into the Committee of Experts 

(CoE), to work on alternatives. The Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of 

Architects (KRVIA) provided professional support and started to look at Dharavi 

through the eyes of its residents. So, for example, instead of drawing arbitrary 

lines across Dharavi to demarcate different areas, an effort was made to group 

together proposed housing cooperative societies, chawls and those living 

within common social boundaries. This work has been completed in one sector 

and some more time and effort are needed to flesh out a full-fledged alternative. 

It must be said that the appointment of a sympathetic and empathetic 

administrator for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project in 2008 helped in sorting 

out many of the issues raised above. There were also some other senior 

bureaucrats at the State Government level, who had the interests of the poor at 

heart. It was also at this time that the CoE* was appointed by Government, to 

aid and advise the authorities. 

It will be necessary to draw up a Master Plan in consultation with the residents 

of Dharavi, a plan that is responsive to the needs and circumstances of the 

poor. Small groups and sub-clusters have to be formed, who can hook into 

the overall plan, as and when they are prepared to do so. State agencies must 

assert themselves forcefully as champions of the poor, arbitrating disputes 

between and overseeing contractual obligations of the different stakeholders 

involved. The task before us is clear: how do we meet the aspirations of the 

people in a just and sustainable manner while enlisting their whole-hearted 

participation in the design and implementation of the redevelopment project? 

* See pg.46 for list of CoE members 

39

process of 

resistance

42 

February 16, 2007 

‘All dhARAVI dOES NOT quAlIfy AS SluM’ 

D. M. Sukthankar, a former Chief Secretry and later member of the CoE, raises 

objections to the modifications of the Development Control Rules made to suit 

the redevelopment proposal, and writes the first of many letters to the then 

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development 

Authority (MHADA) I.S. Chahal. In his letter he states: 

“..The Authority has been given the status of SPA for slum rehabilitation areas. 

However, this was not adequate in the case of Dharavi as the entire area is not a 

‘slum’...” 

March 14, 2007 

‘lOW RISE, hIgh-dENSITy MORE SuITAblE TO dhARAVI’ 

A letter was sent in March 2007 to Swadheen Kshatriya, Principal Secretary 

of the Housing Department of the Government of Maharashtra, by D.M. 

Sukthankar on behalf of the group of experts: 

“The consensus is that, a low-rise, high-density model is more appropriately 

suited to the existing lifestyles in Dharavi compared to a high-rise high-density 

model. ” 

May 9, 2007 

‘PEOPlE Of dhARAVI hAVE NO INfO ON 

gOVT. REhAb PlANS’ 

A letter to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, in accordance with previous 

letters, highlighted many issues: 

..The ‘sector’ based approach completely ignores the established boundaries, 

while imposing new divisions within and between communities. The existing 

Nagar boundaries must be central to the planning process.. 

..The people of Dharavi have virtually no information about DRP (Dharavi 

Redevelopment Project), except that it is a sector plan. They do not know who 

is eligible for rehabilitation, what their entitlements are, the locations of the 

transit tenements, and where their permanent accommodations will be. They 

do not know what measures to take to protect their livelihoods and what types 

of housing will be provided. Furthermore, several residents have larger families, 

thereby making the 225sq.ft. space inadequate for their purposes. 

Has the government considered making additional area available to them, either 

as a profit-sharing mechanism with the developers or as additional purchasable 

property? Similarly, should not the residential development (as a ‘free-sale’ 

component) by private developers have a mandatory component of lower and 

middle income housing?... 

June 18, 2007 

‘REdEV. PlAN IgNORES lIVINg/WORKINg 

CONdITIONS Of PEOPlE’ 

Black Flag Day on 18 June, 2007, highlighted the resentment the people of 

Dharavi had for the DRP when they marched on to the streets protesting the 

shortcomings of the proposal. The protest rally began at Dharavi T-junction and 

ended outside the MHADA office at Bandra (East). The agenda of the rally was 

to emphasize the rights of the residents as the plan did not involve them during 

its conception and formulation, and that it did not make provisions to safeguard 

their livelihoods in the redevelopment scheme. 

flag

44 

June 29, 2007 

‘dhARAVI REdEVElOPMENT PROjECT uNdEMOCRATIC’ 

Extracts from a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh: 

“Local residents of Dharavi have virtually no information about the DRP.... It is 

profoundly undemocratic to do away with the requirement that at least 70% of 

the people must consent to any slum redevelopment scheme. This move strikes 

at the heart of the Constitutional mandate for democratic decentralization. 

There is no space for community participation.” 

June 29, 2007 

‘PlANNEd hOuSINg dENSITIES MORE ThAN 

dOublE ANyWhERE ElSE’ 

Extracts from a letter to the media, banks and bidders: 

“It is disturbing that the plan has no scope for community participation. 

Moreover, those who will be accommodated after the redevelopment will have 

to face unprecedented congestion as the housing densities envisaged in the 

plan are more than twice those found anywhere else in the world.” 

July 19, 2007 

‘REdEV. PlAN WIll dESTROy lIVElIhOOdS 

Of ThOuSANdS’ 

Extracts from a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh: 

“It is feared that if DRP is implemented, the livelihood of thousands of people 

will be destroyed without any alternatives offered.” 

45

46 

June 2008 

WORld ECON. CRISIS dETERS bIddERS 

Unperturbed by the protests, the Government of Maharastra decided 

to proceed with the distribution of tenders and invited bids from various 

multinational corporations. Tenders were floated and pre-qualification bids were 

invited for the project. 

A total of 19 bids were received. The bidders included Allied Real Estate of 

Bulgaria, a joint venture of Indiabulls and US Shia Homes, Runwal Group 

with Capital Land of Singapore, Emaar-MGF along with Dubai’s Expanse 

Constructions, a joint venture of Neptune Developers with Pacifica of US, and a 

Lanco-Sunray City (South Africa) alliance. 

It was during this process of bidding when the global economic meltdown - 

the result of the collapse of the U.S. housing market - hit India. This global 

economic crisis forced the companies to opt out of the bidding process owing 

to the large initial investment for the project. The project was estimated to cost 

around Rs.15, 000 crores. The deposit to be paid by the winning bidders was 

around Rs. 500 crores. Most of the bidders withdrew in the face 

of risk and recession. 

February 2, 2009 

ExPERTS TEAM SET uP 

In February 2009, a group of experts was formally appointed by the government 

of Maharashtra as the Committee of Experts advising the government on the 

process of redevelopment. The members were: 

D.M. Sukthankar, IAS (Retd.), former Chief Secretary, GoM 

Shirish Patel, structural engineer and urban planner 

Vidhyadhar Phatak, urban planner 

Chandrashekhar Prabhu, architect and housing activist 

Arvind Adarkar, Director, Academy of Architecture 

Neera Adarkar, architect and social activist 

Aneerudha Paul, Director, Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture 

A.Jockin, President, National Slum Dwellers Federation 


Sundar Burra, IAS (Retd.) and Adviser, SPARC 

June 3, 2009 

‘AghAST TO fINd NO SuRVEyS/STudIES dONE’ 

Extract of a letter from CoE to Sitaram Kunte, Secretary, Housing Department: 

“ The basic pre-requisites for a project of this magnitude and complexity were 

that it should have been preceded by a detailed socio-economic survey of 

Dharavi, besides a plane table and topographical survey, transportation studies, 

infrastructure and environmental assessment studies etc. We were appalled to 

find that no such surveys and studies had been done and the bids were invited 

probably on the false assurance of the consultants that these studies were 

either already conducted or were not necessary.” 

June 15, 2009 

‘fSI 4 WIll CAuSE uNVIAblE dENSITy ’ 

Extract of a letter to Johny Joseph, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra: 

“..Accommodating the free sale FSI up to a limit of 4 makes the resultant 

density in Dharavi unworkable, in the sense that the requirements of 

roads, open spaces, social amenities and facilities cannot be provided 

to ensure a minimally acceptable quality of life. Further, adequate 

distance between buildings necessary for basic minimum light and 

ventilation also cannot be ensured...” 

“The detailed socio-economic survey carried out in Dharavi 

has revealed that there are about 57,000 households 

eligible for rehabilitation. However, in keeping with the 

current government policy, this survey has excluded the 

households living in the upper storeys, whether as tenants 

or members of extended families. We understand that... 

since under the present policy, such households are 

not eligible for rehabilitation, their exclusion will give 

rise to serious unrest right from the beginning of the 

project and threaten its very implementation.”

July 7, 2009 

‘A SOPhISTICATEd lANd gRAb’ 

Extract of a letter to Ashok Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra: 

“The DRP is a sophisticated land grab. Over the years, residents from various 

parts of the city have been made to settle there by Government, while taking 

great care not to give them proper legal rights of occupancy. This legalisation 

is something that should have been part of the people’s rights when they were 

first settled there, and is something that was high-handedly denied to them at 

the time...” 

“They are now being offered in-situ free pucca housing in exchange for being 

shifted into less than half of the land they currently occupy. The rest of the land 

thus released from occupation will be commercially exploited and significant 

profits are expected to accrue both to Government and to the developers 

entrusted with the project. The project is being driven by personal greed rather 

than the welfare of the residents of Dharavi.” 

July 30, 2009 

bIddINg SuSPENdEd 

After the initial postponement of opening of bids from June 20, 2009, it was 

decided that final bids for the project would be opened on July 30. From among 

the initial bidders, only 14 remained. But the process for receiving and opening 

the bids was suspended indefinitely on July 30th morning. While there is much 

speculation, it is not clear why the indefinite suspension took place. 

August 24, 2009 

‘CONSulTANT NOT EquIPPEd TO hANdlE 

SuCh A VAST PROjECT’ 

Extract of a letter to Sitaram Kunte, Housing Secretary: 

“Our understanding is that the Cabinet decision was to appoint Shri Mukesh 

Mehta as Project Advisor. The Empowered Committee headed by the Chief 

Secretary went far beyond the Cabinet decision and decided to make him the 

Project Management Consultant, an entirely different and 

much expanded role...” 

“Our impression from meeting with the Consultant is that he was not competent 

enough to handle the project of this magnitude, to say the least. ” 

November 4, 2009 

‘AlTERNATIVE APPROACh NEEdEd’ 

Extract of a letter to Ashok Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, highlighting 

key flaws in the formulation of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project: 

i) Absence of people’s participation in the formulation and the 

conception of the DRP. 

ii) Limited competition and the need for revised bids. 

iii) Low percentage of Dharavi residents found eligible and the absence 

of entitlements for some groups. 

iv) Alternative approach needed towards redevelopment of Dharavi. 

49

50 

January 16, 2010 

‘INfRASTRuCTuRE STIll lACKINg’ 

Extract from a letter to Swadheen Kshatriya, Municipal Commissioner, Mumbai: 

“Since there is a possibility that the bidding process for DRP may be revived, 

I would urge you to ascertain whether the DRP has actually got sanctioned 

from the MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) all its proposals 

for infrastructure. I might mention here in passing that certain transit camps in 

Dharavi built about 20 years ago by MHADA still do not have water connections 

today and water is supplied by tankers. It should not be the case that tens of 

thousands of residential and commercial units are built under DRP without an 

assurance of the necessary infrastructure, more particularly water.” 

January 16, 2010 

‘TRANSPARENT PROCEduRES A MuST’ 

Extract of a letter to Shri Vinod Rai, Comptroller and Auditor General of India: 

“The appointment of the consultant Shri Mukesh Mehta has been made 

without following transparent and standard procedures for such appointments. 

His lack of qualifications and experience apart, his performance has been 

unsatisfactory and his remuneration has been fixed in an arbitrary manner and 

at an unjustifiable scale. 

It is not at all clear what the basis of fixing the premium @Rs.450 sq. foot 

is when it has been argued that the market could afford 8 to 10 times that 

figure. Though we are against the idea of looking upon DRP as a milch-cow 

for Government revenues, if in fact such an approach is adopted, then there 

must be a fair, transparent and publicly declared mechanism for arriving at the 

premium figure. Also, how can such a figure remain static with changes in the 

market?” 

March 23, 2010 

‘ObjECTIONS TO SRA NOTIfICATION 

Gist of points made in a letter to Gautam Chatterjee, Officer on 

Special Duty, DRP: 

No Development Plan has been prepared for Dharavi , which under Section 21 

of the MRTP Act, SRA is required to prepare. 

The Development Plan needs to be accompanied by a report...which will 

explain the purpose of the Development Plan, whether it is for the benefit of 

the residents or to make a profit for developers and for Government. No such 

explanation has been provided. In the absence of a Development Plan, there is 

no basis for the framing of Development Control Regulations. 

The rationale for choosing FSI 4 is not explained... 

There is no consideration of the density of population that will be occupying the 

development... 

In schemes of Urban Renewal, 50-80% of rehab floor space is granted as 

an incentive. However, in the proposed Regulations this incentive has been 

increased to 133% which is unwarranted. 

The date of eligibility of inhabitants has been changed...All residents who were 

in Dharavi at time of biometric survey by Mashal shuld be rehabilitated here. 

Residents living on upper floors including mezzanines and lofts should also be 

accommodated here. 

51

Impact! 

The process of people’s resistance and engagement had a distinct impact on 

the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. While there were many influences at work, 

the Committee of Experts’ close interaction at all levels of government also 

helped effect changes: 

dRP AuThORITIES RECOgNIzEd ThE VAluE Of 

COMMuNITy PARTICIPATION. 

ThE AuThORITIES COMMISSIONEd A PhySICAl ANd 

SOCIO-ECONOMIC SuRVEy Of dhARAVI. 

fuRThER, ThEy COMMISSIONEd A STudy TO PREPARE 

A dETAIlEd TRANSPORT PlAN. 

gOVERNMENT WAS MAdE AWARE Of ThE 

POTENTIAlly dISRuPTIVE CONSEquENCES Of 

lEAVINg OuT fAMIlIES lIVINg ON MEzzANINE 

flOORS fROM ThE AMbIT Of RESETTlEMENT ANd 

REhAbIlITATION. 

POCKETS lIKE gAOThANS, KuMbhARWAdA, ANd 

PRIVATE lANdS WERE ExCludEd fROM ThE dRP. 

SINCE ThE ORIgINAl PlAN WAS ANAlyzEd IN 

dEPTh ANd ITS ShORTCOMINgS METICulOuSly 

dOCuMENTEd, gOVERNMENT bEgAN TO CONSIdER 

AlTERNATIVE MOdAlITIES – INCludINg ThAT Of 

MhAdA ITSElf TAKINg uP ONE SECTOR. 

ThE POTENTIAl fOR SluM COMMuNITIES TO WORK 

WITh PROfESSIONAlS ANd ACAdEMIC INSTITuTIONS 

WITh ThE gOAl Of SElf-dEVElOPMENT WAS 

ESTAblIShEd. 

53

An ALteRnAtiVe stRAtegy 

section tHRee

56 

An Alternative Strategy 

If the process of resistance to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project was one 

aspect of the challenge, another equally compelling aspect was to initiate a 

process of engagement – that is, engagement towards devising an alternative 

strategy. This strategy, as compared to the governmental effort, developed 

documentation, analysis and design only after consulting local residents 

and their organizations. At the same time, it had to make do with severely 

constrained budgets of both time and resources. Reimagining Dharavi was also 

problematic for its thousands of residents who have been accustomed over 

generations to adapt to the harsh conditions of their habitat, upgrading it bit 

by little bit - but are quite unfamiliar with the challenges of envisioning the full 

picture of the future. 

The smallest building block in this reimagined plan is the cooperative housing 

society whose residents wish to plot their own redevelopment. These housing 

cooperatives are aggregated into ‘nagars’ or neighbourhoods that have a 

distinct sense of identity based on factors such as religion, social origins or 

shared working conditions. The first step was to have the residents map their 

living and working conditions so as to obtain a clear picture of the ground 

reality. The following maps include informal organizational networks, industrial 

and commercial patterns, road and traffic networks, institutions, open spaces, 

and overall land use, as is, in Sector IV. 

sectoR demARcAtion Line existing RoAds 

googLe sAteLLite imAge of dHARAVi 

sectoR iV pLAn witH dRp RoAds 

45m wide dRp RoAd 

30.40m wide dRp RoAd 

ROAD 

CROSS 

DHARAVI 


Dharavi was divided 

into five principal sectors 

as per the decision 

of the Government of 

Maharashtra. These sectors 

were divided either by 

marking existing transport 

corridors of the city or new 

roads envisioned by the 

master plan. Sector IV is strategically 

located with the Bandra T-Junction 

to its north-west, 90 Feet Road to its 

south-east, and sharing its southwest 

and north-east boundaries with 

Sectors III and V respectively. 



30.40m wide dRp RoAd 

57

58 

Original Sector 

Demarcation 

Revised Sector 

Demarcation 

Comparison 

SECTOR III 

SECTOR III 

SECTOR III 

SECTOR IV 

SECTOR IV 

SECTOR IV 

It 

was 

decided 

to stay with 

the Sector 

Plan broadly but 

with significant 

variations which will 

be elaborated below. 

We selected Sector IV 

as the focus because 

of the complexities 

and problems it 

presented. Rather than 

choose the low-hanging 

fruit or quick gains by 

selecting an easier sector, 

it was thought that if we 

could address the many 

complicated issues raised 

by Sector IV, then it would 

become much easier to deal with 

the other sectors. However, the 

demarcation of Sector 

IV was revised 

on the basis of 

existing internal 

road patterns and 

not on an externally 

imposed boundary. 

The main aim was 

to preserve existing 

organizational patterns 

within the slum and respect 

boundaries of existing 

‘nagars’. 

no. of tenements 

Residential 

Industrial + Commercial 

Residential + Commercial 

Total 

8547 

1979 

51 

10577 

Area = 3,51,497 Sq.Mts. 

pRoposed 

sectoR iV

60 

Grouping Together 

There is an existing system evident within Dharavi where residents have 

organized themselves into groups so as to adopt a common rehabilitation 

program. These organizational clusters have been mapped in terms of proposed 

co-operative housing societies, chawls and nagars as they exist in Sector IV. 

co-opeRAtiVe Housing societies 

cHAwLs 

nAgARs 

Ambiguous cLusteRs 

sLum ReHAbiLitAtion AutHoRity (sRA) buiLdings 

pRiVAte LAnds 

( most of the base 

material used for this 

study is available 

in the public realm, 

and any details 

would require further 

verification on site ) 

sectoR iV 

pLAn of ALL AReAs combined 

co-opeRAtiVe Housing societies 

1. Janshakti Katta Boman Co-op 

Area: 2194.16 sq.mt. 

R = 136 C = 3 

2. Ganesh Rahiwasi Sangh 

Co-op 

Area: 2309.23 sq.mt. 

R = 156 C = 8 

3. Mahatma Gandhi Co-op 

Area: 1479.42 sq.mt. 

R = 77 C = 26 

4. Indira Shakti Co-op 

Area: 1119.31 sq.mt. 

R = 75 C =18 

5. Nausheman Co-op 

Area: 1265.70 sq.mt. 

R = 58 C = 19 

6. New Maharashtra Nagar 

Co-op 

Area: 1141.15 sq.mt. 

R = 51 C = 24 

7. Bharat S.R.A. Co-op 

Area: 1726.80 sq.mt. 

R = 111 C = 24 

8. Jai Hind Co-op 

Area: 1212.68 sq.mt. 

R = 60 C = 23 

9. Gopinath Nagar (A) Co-op 

Area: 2544.10 sq.mt. 

R = 32 C = 78 

10. Panchsheel Co-op 

Area: 2433.44 sq.mt. 

R = 173 C = 12 

11. Moreshwar Co-op 

Area: 1310.45 sq.mt. 

R = 78 C = 7 

12. Nityanand Co-op 

Area: 2294.95 sq.mt. 

R = 173 C = 4 

13. Samrat Ashok Co-op 

Area: 2211.67 sq.mt. 

R = 153 C = 5 

14. Ganesh Co-op 

Area: 1429.49 sq.mt. 

R = 75 C = 1 

15. Sri Krupa Co-op 

Area: 1326.04 sq.mt. 

R = 56 C = 6 

16. Laxmi Narayan Co-op 

Area: 3189.39 sq.mt. 

R = 101 C = 15 

17. Navjeet Co-op 

Area: 2015.06 sq.mt. 

R = 64 C = 38 

18. Veer Lahuji Co-op 

Area: 1236.52 sq.mt. 

R = 118 C = 2 

19. Shiv Krupa Co-op 

Area: 1591.89 sq.mt. 

R = 46 C = 5 

20. Jai Maharashtra 

Co-op 

Area: 2012.88 sq.mt. 

R = 59 C = 6 

21. Prathishta Nagar 

Co-op 

Area: 3362.99 sq.mt. 

R = 154 C = 15 

Proposed housing 

co-operative societies 

are the smallest units for 

residents to come together 

to plan their future. In the SRA 

policy, such projects were 

25 

approved if 70% of families 

gave their consent. There are 

about 40 such co-op societies 

in Sector IV which are eminently 

suitable forums for community 

participation and mobilization. 

While some societies are more 

organized than others, it is at this 

level that the community produces 

and shares information about its own 

members. The map shows cluster 

demarcations of co-operative societies. 

19 

40 

20 

21 

22 

23 

22. Sai Akruti Co-op 

Area: 1111.05 sq.mt. 

R = 83 C = 4 

23. Shiv Shrusti Co-op 

Area: 1410.84 sq.mt. 

R = 73 C = 1 

24. Trimurti Co-op 

Area: 1182.71 sq.mt. 

R = 86 C = 0 

25. Parag Co-op 

Area: 1302.06 sq.mt. 

R = 44 C = 5 

26. Magdhumia Co-op 

Area: 797.41 sq.mt. 

R = 47 C = 0 

27. Bhartiyaar Co-op 

Area: 2326.80 sq.mt. 

R = 153 C = 5 

28. Gopinath Nagar (B) 

Co-op 


R = 21 C = 29 

29. Gopinath Nagar (C) 

Co-op 

Area: 1595.25 sq.mt. 

R = 41 C = 

30. Navrang Co-op 

Area: 4769.59 sq.mt. 

R = 192 C = 52 

31. Navrang 2 Co-op 


R = 30 C = 7 

24 

37 

27 

39 

26 

10 

12 

13 

16 14 

17 

11 

35 

15 18 

31 

36 

38 

3 

30 

4 

33 

34 

2 

32. Shivaji Co-op 

Area: 3292.77 sq.mt. 

R = 96 C = 77 

33. Shivaji 2 Co-op 

Area: 2307.56 sq.mt. 

R = 132 C = 22 

34. Jivandhara Co-op 


R = 57 C = 8 

35. Samata Co-op 

Area: 2845.68 sq.mt. 

R = 115 C = 40 

36. Sarvodhaya Co-op 

Area: 548 sq.mt. 

R = 42 C = 4 

37. Vishwakunj Co-op 

Area: 4576.85 sq.mt. 

R = 249 C = 27 

38. Ujala Co-op 

Area: 2217.97 sq.mt. 

R = 20 C = 66 

39. Satkarya Co-op 

Area: 1980.29 sq.mt. 

R = 88 C = 3 

40. Mangal Murti Co-op 

Area: 5086.94 sq.mt. 

R = 201 C = 31 

1 

5 

9 

29 28 

32 

R: ResidentiAL 

C: commeRciAL 

8 

7 

6 

61

62 

cHAwLs & nAgARs 

CHAWLS NAGARS 

1. Bismillah Chawl 

Area: 1704.66 sq.mt. 

R = 114 C = 10 

2. Nehru Chawl 

Area: 2353.97 sq.mt. 

R = 150 C = 31 

3. Sanjay Chawl 

Area: 1555.50 sq.mt. 

R = 88 C = 19 

4. Madina Chawl 

Area: 2102.43 sq.mt. 

R = 52 C =70 

5. Anna Sheth Chawl 

Area: 1114.55 sq.mt. 

R = 43 C = 3 

6. Shankar Kawade Chawl 


R = 19 C = 13 

7. Dr. Zakhir Hussain 

Chawl 

Area: 2029.78 sq.mt. 

R = 76 C = 23 

8. Mariamma Chawl 

Area: 2468.41 sq.mt. 

R = 118 C = 24 

9. Rajiv Gandhi Chawl 

Area: 2692.38 sq.mt. 

R = 196 C = 8 

10. Rajiv Gandhi - 2 Chawl 

Area: 1783.11 sq.mt. 

R = 101 C = 11 

11. Ganesh Chawl 


R = 52 C = 4 

12. Bharti -2 Chawl 


R = 57 C = 1 

13. Bharti Chawl 


R = 44 C = 3 

14. Sambhaji Chawl 

Area: 2873.05 sq.mt. 

R = 186 C = 13 

Chawls 

were a form 

of housing 

built both by 

government agencies 

and private employers 

to accomodate migrant 

workers as the city began 

to industrialize in the early 6 

1900s. They were made 

up of single room units in 

3 or 4 storeyed structures, 

with wide common passages 

and shared toilets. Generally, 

chawls had better infrastructure 

than slums and were occupied 

by better-off residents in the 

city. Larger clusters form nagars 

- that have commonly accepted 

boundaries though not a defined 

organizational pattern. There are 

about 20 chawls and 4 big nagars 

mapped in Sector IV. 

5 

1 

15 16 

17 

2 

15. Lal Patra Chawl 


R = 17 C = 12 

16. Koli Jamat Chawl 

Area: 1018.34 sq.mt. 

R = 34 C = 14 

17. B.M.C. Chawl 

Area: 5605.06 sq.mt. 

R = 108 C = 28 

4 

9 

7 8 

3 

10 11 

12 

14 13 

1. Bashweshwar Nagar 

Area: 11813.19 sq.mt. 

R = 392 C = 82 

2. Shiv Shakti 

Area: 11110.25 sq.mt. 

R = 608 C = 26 

3. Indira Gandhi Nagar 

Area: 3334.56 sq.mt. 

R = 193 C = 13 

4. Subhash Nagar 

Area: 5355.67 sq.mt. 

R = 250 C =24 

1 

2 

4 

3 

Ambiguous cLusteRs 

1. Ambiguous Cluster 1 

Area: 5408.22 sq.mt. 

R = 37 C = 86 


Area: 16674.54 sq.mt. 

R = 241 C = 82 


Area: 6448.22 sq.mt. 

R = 208 C = 49 


Area: 1630.25 sq.mt. 

R = 3 C =1 


Area: 4757.45 sq.mt. 

R = 154 C = 88 

There were 

certain areas 

which could not 

be captured by 

the three groupings 

(co-op societies, 

chawls and nagars); 

these were termed as 

‘ambiguous areas’. The 

map above shows the 

physical marking of the 

ambiguous clusters. 

3 


Area: 7771.77 sq.mt. 

R = 302 C = 91 


Area: 1336.10 sq.mt. 

R = 47 C = 46 


Area: 3717.69 sq.mt. 

R = 96 C = 77 


Area: 7718.91 sq.mt. 

R = 452 C =86 


Area: 3678.09 sq.mt. 

R = 60 C = 79 

2 

1 

4 

10 

9 

6 

8 

7 

5 

63

64 

existing commeRciAL Zone 

So as to facilitate customer 

traffic, commercial activities 

are mainly aligned along 

the 90 Feet Road and 

junctions of Sector 

IV’s primary roads. 

These commercial units 

include meat stores, eateries, 

grocery and mechanics’ shops, 

and tailoring, all for local markets. 

Textiles, leather goods and jari work 

are mainly export-oriented. 

The commercial zone comprises 9% of 

the total area of Sector IV. Commercial 

units form predominant selling hubs 

located in clusters along the streets. 

existing ResidentiAL Zone 

Large residential clusters lining the 

inner part of the main streets 

are linked with secondary 

and tertiary pedestrian 

street networks. 

Small and large 

open spaces that 

are strategically placed 

within the residential network 

provide breathing space within an 

otherwise dense fabric. 

The residential zone comprises 30% 

of the total area of Sector IV. Some 

of these residential units also house 

commercial and domestic workplaces 

for broom-making, food-making, 

embroidery, etc. It is indeed difficult to 

clearly demarcate what is residential, 

commercial, industrial or home-based 

because some combination or mixed 

pattern of living and working conditions are 

found everywhere in Dharavi. 

ResidentiAL 

Fully Residential 

Single Family Double Families 

Separate Rent 

Fully Residential 

commeRciAL 

House Types 

Fully Leased 

Residents On Shared Rent Family Basis Shared Individual Basis 

Fully Owned 

Part Residential - Part Home-Based 

Industry/Commerce 

Part Leased Out for 

Residence 

owned & LeAsed types of tenements 

VARiAtions on tHe use of spAce 

Part Residential - Part Home-Based 

Industry/Commerce 

Part Residential - Part Leased Out 

Part Leased Out for 

Home-Based Industry/Commerce 

ResidentiAL + commeRciAL 

65

66 

sRA buiLdings & pRiVAte LAnds RoAds & ALLeys 

This map indicates the 

areas demarcated as 

SRA housing and 

private lands. The 

SRA & private 

lands together 

comprise 29% of 

the total area of Sector 

IV. Most of the SRA 

buildings concentrate on the 

residential component of the 

scheme since the commercial 

component is sold as TDR. 

Even so, these buildings reveal 

a high density configuration with 

poor lighting conditions, high 

maintenance costs, lack of proper 

infrastructure and facilities. Since 

2004, when DRP was approved, 

SRA housing has been disallowed. 

pubLic toiLets 

Common toilets have been 

constructed under public 

programmes. On an 

average, a toilet 

seat is shared by 

close to a thousand 

residents. 

Public toilets and amenities 

comprise 1% of the total area of 

Sector IV. 

Pedestrian pathways 

throughout Dharavi are 

connected to vehicular 

roads that go on 

to connect to the 

main roads of the 

city. The vehicular 

roads (AB, CD, and 

EF) mainly carry heavy A 

vehicular traffic throughout 

the day. Commercial and 

industrial tenements, shops 

and informal markets line both 

sides of these roads. The narrow 

alleys filter the traffic and restrict 

vehicular movement - making them 

predominantly pedestrian, and 

safe and usable for children and 

residents. 

tRAffic LoAding 

AVeRAge no. of VeHicLes/HouR 

RoAd Ab cd ef 

2wHeeLeR 33 77 29 

bicycLe / HAAtH-gAAdi 8 4 71 

Auto 16 2 

cAR 16 13 

tRuck 23 2 

goods cARRiAge 4 2 

c 

e 

Ab cd ef 

b 

f 

d 

67

68 

institutions 

Religious Institutions 

There are religious 

institutions from small 

and large shrines to 

mosques and churches 

spread all over the area, 

sharing common gathering 

spaces and some strategically 

located within multifunctional open 

spaces. All religious activities are well 

integrated within the physical fabric 

and allow for strong social interaction 

during religious festivals as well as in 

day-to-day life. 

Educational Institutions 

The kind of educational institutions 

that are found in Dharavi are not 

very high-end but comprise small 

balwadis, primary schools and very 

few higher secondary schools. 

Though there are higher-level 

educational institutions outside 

Dharavi but close-by, it is necessary 

to assess local needs in relation to 

existing supply. 

Medical Institutions 

There are small ayurvedic, 

homeopathic and allopathic clinics 

spread within the residential/ 

commercial fabric, responding to 

local community needs. Sion Hospital 

located on the Sion-Mahim Link Road 

is the main medical insitution for the 

people of Dharavi. 

ReLigious institutions 

educAtionAL institutions 

medicAL institutions 

muLti-functionAL community open spAces 

ResidentiAL open spAces 

The larger open areas allow 

for multiple activities 

such as celebrating 

festivals, sports, 

markets, other 

community gatherings 

and work-related activities. 

They constitute a very 

important socio-cultural space, 

strengthening the community 

spirit of the people of Dharavi. 

The smaller open spaces are 

used for day-to-day activites like 

washing/drying clothes, cutting 

vegetables, small-scale embroidery, 

etc. These serve as pause spaces for 

informal gatherings and for children to 

play besides providing breathing space. 

69

Strategy to Prepare a 

Master Plan 

A bird’s eye view of Dharavi would show a sea of tin roofs, some buildings and 

industrial enterprises seemingly located in random fashion. The central element 

of the alternative strategy is to map residents’ associations (proposed housing 

co-operatives), chawls and occupational groupings and commercial units, 

SRA housing and private lands, institutions and roads and alleys. This visual 

representation helped uncover patterns, housing typologies and their linkages 

within Dharavi, with the city, and globally. The CoE when presented with these 

underlined patterns came up with a set of guidelines. These form the basis 

of the strategy upon which an alternative master plan was conceptualized. 

They also make up the framework of rules and regulations within which the 

aspirations of residents for incremental housing can be formulated and defined. 

These guidelines are yet to be negotiated with GoM. 

government 

people’s 

organizations 

professionals 

academics 

activists 

stRAtegies 

objectiVes of tHe mAsteR pLAn 

1. mAke suRe tHAt peopLe ARe consuLted At eVeRy 

stAge of dAtA coLLection, design, foRmuLAtion 

And impLementAtion. 

2. guARAntee tHAt no one is eVicted fRom dHARAVi. 

3. bReAk down fiVe sectoRs into numeRous 

smALLeR cLusteRs bAsed on existing nAtuRAL 

And sociAL boundARies, And tAke into Account 

tHe need to pRotect peopLe’s LiVeLiHoods. 

4. witH tHe consent of tHe Residents of dHARAVi, 

deVeLop A fRAmewoRk foR RedeVeLopment tHAt 

diVides dHARAVi into cLusteRs of AppRopRiAte 

siZe And kind, foLLowing A tRAnspoRt pLAn 

dRiVen by consideRAtion foR pedestRiAns 

RAtHeR tHAn VeHicuLAR tRAffic. 

5. pRepARe A pLAn foR infRAstRuctuRe And 

sociAL Amenities witH An oRientAtion towARds 

pedestRiAniZAtion, wHicH is sepARAteLy 

finAnced And impLemented by pubLic 

AutHoRities. 

6. enAbLe LocAL sub-sectoRs/cLusteRs to tAke up 

RedeVeLopment wHen tHey ARe pRepARed to do 

so And in A mAnneR tHey cHoose but witHin A 

set of guideLines. 

7. tAp AVAiLAbLe goVeRnment gRAnts And 

subsidies, And expLoRe ARRAngements foR 

institutionAL finAnce botH foR infRAstRuctuRe 

And foR Housing. 

8. Limit tHe use of fLooR spAce index (fsi) As 

finAnciAL incentiVe onLy to tHe extent tHAt 

is AbsoLuteLy necessARy to mAke tHe pRoject 

ViAbLe. 

71

72 

stRAtegy: stRengHtening of RoAds 

The first step towards initiating the redevelopment process was to ensure that 

all the infrastructure and amenities were in place. That involved strengthening 

of the road network of Sector IV. There are two main roads running across 

Sector IV connecting the 90 Feet Road and the road edging the sector 

boundary. The strategy adopted towards strengthening the road network was 

not to create any new roads unless necessary but to strengthen the existing 

roads by widening them such that they could permit the movement of heavy 

vehicular traffic. These roads form the primary road network across the region. 

Presently, apart from these two main roads, there are numerous alleys 

and lanes which are entirely pedestrian in nature. Retaining this essential 

characteristic of the lanes, a secondary network of roads was established 

which interlink all the interior areas of Sector IV to either the primary roads or 

the main peripheral roads. The secondary roads thus become a completely 

pedestrian interface drawn along the edges of the existing boundaries of cooperative 

societies, chawls and nagars. Overlaying the secondary roads over 

the region helps divide the area into numerous pockets which comprise one 

or more societies and chawls. Although pedestrian in nature, these roads are 

designed to be wide enough to allow passage of emergency vehicles like fire 

trucks or ambulances. 

One challenge has 

been to balance 

the competing 

interests of 

pedestrianization 

and vehicular traffic, 

recognizing that in 

order to attract crosssubsidy 

there will have to be 

an increase in the latter. 

pRimARy VeHicuLAR RoAds 

secondARy VeHicuLAR RoAds 

mAjoRLy pedestRiAn - pARtLy VeHicuLAR RoAds 

pRimARy VeHicuLAR RoAds 

The existing 90 Ft. and the T-junction Sion Link Roads will act as the major 

vehicular transport roads. 

secondARy VeHicuLAR RoAds 

These are proposed to be 18 mts. wide as per the development control 

regulations. Smaller transport like haath-gaadis, cars and rickshaws can be 

permitted to ply on these roads but not heavy vehicles. 

mAjoRLy pedestRiAn - pARtLy VeHicuLAR RoAds 

These are proposed to be 12 mts. wide as per the development control 

regulations. These roads will act mostly as pedestrian roads and occasionally 

as vehicular in specific situations. 

The strategy clearly aims to 

strengthen existing roads. They are 

proposed so as to interlink all the 

interior areas of Sector IV without 

disturbing or cutting through the 

existing organizations of houses at 

the levels of co-operatives, chawls 

and nagars. 

mApped co-opeRAtiVes, cHAwLs 

And nAgARs (Refer pg. 60) 

73

74 

stRAtegy: stRengtHening of open spAces 

The existing regulations under the DRP say that 1.25 hectares of recreational 

ground shall be provided for Sector IV. Presently, the open spaces remain 

scattered across Dharavi, most of which do not have direct road access. These 

open spaces are generally around religious institutions and are used during 

festivities and religious celebrations. Rather than creating new open spaces 

which would disturb the present scenario, the design strategy attempts to 

strengthen and upgrade the existing open spaces. These smaller intimate 

spaces would be under the control of local neighbourhood communities. 

Educational institutions will be placed adjoining these spaces, so that the 

grounds can also be used as playgrounds. 

PROPOSED OPEN SPACES 

PROPOSED INSTITuTIONS 

AND AMENITIES 

The establishment of roads and the demarcation of the open spaces have 

resulted in the division of Sector IV into numerous small clusters. These clusters 

comprise one or more societies, chawls and nagars and can be redeveloped on 

site individually. 

fsi pLAn 

The map shows 

the existing Floor 

Space Index for 

different clusters 

generated by 

the density of 

tenements on 

site. 

REHAB FSI Less THAN 1.5 

REHAB FSI GREATER THAN 1.5 BuT LESS THAN 2 

REHAB FSI GREATER THAN 2 BuT LESS THAN 2.5 

REHAB FSI GREATER THAN 2.5 BuT LESS THAN 3 

REHAB FSI GREATER THAN 3 

density pLAn 

The map shows 

the existing 

densities for 

different clusters. 

density Less tHAn 500 tenements peR HectARe 

density gReAteR tHAn 500 but Less tHAn 750 

tenements peR HectARe 

density gReAteR tHAn 750 but Less tHAn 1000 

tenements peR HectARe 

density gReAteR tHAn 1000 tenements peR HectARe 

75

76 

stRAtegy: to eAcH its own scenARio 

The strategy for planning evolved out of creating manageable clusters in terms 

of societies/chawls/nagars that can participate in taking decisions on the future 

of their own development. The road networks, open space networks, and the 

organization of amenities have been planned taking these into consideration. 

The residents of each cluster can take decisions on their redevelopment 

approach according to its needs. If the residents of a predominantly residential 

cluster believe that they would benefit more from the SRA approach, then they 

could appoint their own builder/developer. Another approach might be that 

if the residents of a cluster where work activity is predominant feel that the 

present SRA model is not suitable for them, then they may choose a model 

where they could partially self-finance their redevelopment. 

Scenarios for redevelopment are thus predicated upon choices available to 

slum dwellers. The challenge for professionals is to work with communities 

of the poor to explain the implications of different scenarios so that the latter 

are prepared in their negotiations with government and development finance 

institutions. 

scenARio one 

This scenario is based on the 

conventional SRA scheme where 

the community invites a builder to 

negotiate possibilities where both 

parties benefit. The co-operative 

societies, chawls and nagars 

amalgamate to form 23 large clusters. 

These further combine to form 6 large 

sub-sectors each of which could be 

independently developed. 

diVisions sHowing co-op societies, cHAwLs,nAgARs 

diVisions sHowing RoAds And foRmAtion of 23 LARge cLusteRs 

diVisions sHowing foRmAtion of six sub-sectoRs foR deVeLopment 

77

78 

scenARio two 

This is a scenario which can be applied to ambiguous clusters with work 

activities, where only slum dwellers who have less then 300 sq ft. houses 

agree to participate in the redevelopment process. Also, it assumes that those 

hutments which are demolished during road widening will be provided with a 

300 sq. ft. house. In this scenario, the government funds the project partially 

and the remaining funds are arranged by the residents. 

pLAn sHowing Ambiguous cLusteRs 

Strengthening the existing roads by widening 

them such that they permit the movement of 

vehicular and pedestrian traffic along these 

roads. 

Demolition of tenements less than 300 sq.ft. 

and others that are affected by the widening 

of the roads. Formation and clearance of 

the areas within the cluster for micro-level 

intervention. 

Rehabilitating the demolished residential 

and commercial tenements within the same 

cluster, along with providing small and big 

open spaces for existing and rehabilitated 

tenements. 

79

80 

Afterwords 

woRking togetHeR, LeARning togetHeR 

What are the reasons for large areas of the city remaining informal? For one 

thing, state institutions and developmental interventions neglect them for long 

periods and leave them to their own devices. And when formal processes 

waken to the needs of these areas and populations, they do not know how 

to recognize and value the collective investments that people have made 

in producing and maintaining their neighbourhoods. unfortunately, the 

automatic reflex of official agencies seems to be to demolish what people have 

painstakingly built up. 

The strategy crafted to formulate a master plan has been the outcome of a 

collaborative process between the residents of Dharavi, their community-based 

organizations, an academic institution and professional experts in dialogue with 

the Government of Maharashtra. Consultation and transparency have been the 

guiding principles of this work. This is a plan whose formulation first documents 

and acknowledges what communities and neighbourhoods have done, and then 

builds upon that foundation to produce a plan. The plan then forms the basis of 

a much-needed dialogue between the government and the residents of Dharavi 

rather than produce an image of a Dharavi in which people cannot see their 

lives and their livelihoods reflected. 

This project has produced a wide range of insights for all who have participated 

in its implementation as well as for those who have assisted and supported this 

process in different ways. For the residents and their organizations, the very act 

of documenting their present realities has initiated them and their leadership 

into understanding how planning takes place, and how different variables - 

such as infrastructure, density, transportation options, financing and other 

elements - impact design and how that design will affect their lives. For KRVIA, 

as an academic institution committed to exposing its students and professional 

staff to the challenges of city planning and design, this project has been a 

great source of learning in terms of sensitizing professionals to the dynamics of 

community processes. 

For the alliance of SPARC, Mahila Milan and NSDF and the Dharavi-based 

organizations, Dharavi Bachao Andolan and Dharavi Vikas Samiti, the project 

has proved to be a powerful educational tool to help the people of Dharavi 

move from just protest against what they feared and opposed, to participating 

in developing alternatives. Exploring alternatives is always harder than simply 

fuelling protests – particularly in a context where people are accustomed 

to informal, incremental and cumulative activities of building of homes and 

neighbourhoods but are now required by the formal planning process to deliver 

a full-bloom product. 

For the CoE, the project has deepened its understanding of both ground 

reality and community dynamics. This will be very useful for its role as a bridge 

between an informal Dharavi and the formal apparatus of government. What is 

presented has helped CoE articulate more sharply both its critique of DRP as 

well as the contours of an alternative. A firm grasp of grassroots reality enables 

CoE to better legitimize the alternative in its negotiations with State agencies. 

For the Government of Maharashtra and for governments elsewhere, the 

project has much to contribute by way of exploring alternative approaches to 

slum redevelopment within existing informal settlements. The most obvious 

insight is the need to develop institutional protocols to document existing 

neighbourhoods and the role played by local residents in producing and 

maintaining them. 

Dharavi and similar large informal settlements make us aware of the price paid 

and the costs incurred as a result of long neglect. Redevelopment becomes 

that much harder when the people’s incremental process has moved too far 

ahead for it to be reconciled with the requirements of a formal master plan. 

Finally, the Dharavi Redevelopment Project also demonstrates the 

uncomfortable truth that informal localities attract the keen attention of the 

State and of the real estate industry, when the value of the lands they occupy, 

begins to soar. 


Aneerudha Paul, Director, KRVIA 

November 2010 

Mumbai 

SPARC 

Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres, 

2nd Floor, Marathi Municipal School, 

1st Khetwadi Lane, Mumbai 400 004 

Tel. +91 22 23858785, +91 22 23865053, 

sparc@sparcindia.org 

www.sparcindia.org 

KRVIA 

Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture 

and Environmental Studies. 

Vidyanidhi Marg, Off 10th Rd, Juhu Scheme 

Mumbai 400 049 

Tel. +91 22 26700918, +91 22 26208539 

admin@krvia.ac.in 

www.krvia.ac.in 

81

SPARC|KRVIA

ReDharavi

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