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 SPARC KRVIA Design: Abhinav Shaw Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture Editing: Rani Day 2nd Floor, Marathi Municipal School, and Environmental Studies, 1st Khetwadi Lane, Mumbai 400 004 Vidyanidhi Marg, Off 10th Rd, Editorial Team: Sheela Patel, Aneerudha Paul, Sundar Burra, Bindi Vasavada, Juhu Scheme, Mumbai 400 049 Sujay Kumarji and Kairavi Dua. Tel. +91 22 23858785, +91 22 23865053, Tel. +91 22 26700918, +91 22 26208539 Photographs: Abhinav Shaw, KRVIA & SPARC Archive. [email protected] [email protected] www.sparcindia.org www.krvia.ac.in

3 Contents Introduction: Building a World Class Model for Slum Redevelopment 06 Section one: dharavi story 09 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? 34 Development For Whom? 36 Process of Resistance Impact! 53 section three: an Alternative strategy 54

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

5 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 Introduction people in urban settlements have mostly been neglected in the global South, Building a World Class Model for 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 Slum Redevelopment vigour of slum or shanty residents but very rarely do cities support these workers. by Sheela Patel, Director, SPARC 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 The metropolis of Mumbai is often called Slumbai or Slumbay with probably the able to develop any successful policies for upgradation and improvement on largest number of slum-dwellers in the world (over six milion). Dharavi – really an scale. To the global financial institutions, it is, briefly said, a gold mine. 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 But new policy is not forthcoming from city planners to reduce the risks of tens of thousands of small businesses and hundreds of thousands of residents lending to the poor, nor is there enough money available to replace these self- of different religions, castes, languages, provinces, and ethnicities, dependent built shelters. Global investors don’t have the knowledge or the will to manage on one another and the city socially, culturally and economically. Its enterprising decentralised, incremental investments which communities in Dharavi have residents manufacture garments, leather goods, foods and pottery, besides evolved into a fine art. running a flourishing – and unique – recycling business. There are silver linings to the clouds, however. The Government of Maharashtra, Dharavi has literally risen from the marshes. First the houses had stilts, then originally in a state of denial about the discontent of the residents, now accepts the land was reclaimed little by little, then built up brick by brick. In other the imperative to lend an ear to their voices. Of course, Dharavi residents and words, it is a testament to the survival instincts of the poor – and the success dissidents don’t want to block development or investment per se; they simply of incremental development. Bit by bit, the poor developed the land, raised want to ensure that it will fuel progress for them as much as for the city at large. families and neighbourhoods, then a full-fledged township as generation after generation went to work. Official support for these incremental processes Dharavi has a lot to teach us about how informal settlements generate were signalled when the city provided urban infrastructure and services such solutions for the demands of small businesses and housing. Flexible work as clean piped water, sewage systems, roads and social services in the mid- schedules,home-based occupations, enterprises of various scales that eighties. interconnect with residences – this is the reality of how the poor not only survive, but thrive without handouts or charity. Dharavi was recently in the centre of a storm – with clouds of different development plans hovering overhead. Global capital investment companies, The intention of this book is to suggest guidelines for future redevelopment of local real estate developers and the State Government have all been viewing slums – a redevelopment that is not thrust upon the residents from outside, but Dharavi as a privileged gateway to Mumbai’s transformation. The question is: one that is rooted in a local and participatory environment. Will these clouds disperse? When I speak at workshops and conferences, there are many discussions Current redevelopment proposals seem to view Dharavi as a green field on about ‘world class’ cities. If we work it out right, Mumbai has the potential to which fresh structures and thoroughfares are still to come up – ignoring develop a ‘world class’ model for slum redevelopment through consensual and the deeply-rooted habitat that already exists. If these proposals are left incremental upgrading. All the required ingredients are there. Only the political unchallenged, it could threaten the lives and businesses of many residents. leadership must have the courage to go ahead. We believe it can be done. 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 .

6 7

ONE DHARAVI StorySection 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 BKC Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) – a counter-magnet to the old Central Business KURLA 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! BANDRA

SION

DHARAVI MAHIM

MATUNGA

SHIVAJI PARK

KING’S CIRCLE

MUMBAI DADAR

11 The Bandra-Kurla complex, the posh new business district in the neighbourhood of Dharavi, with its very high commercial real estate value has Land of High Return$ 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! [INR] [INR] 35000 40000 To the global financial institutions, Dharavi is, BANDRA [W] BKC 35000 briefly said, a 30000

30000 GOLD MINE

25000

BANDRA [W] 25000

20000 BKC KURLA MAHIM 20000 SION 15000

15000 MAHIM DHARAVI BANDRA 10000 10000 SION KURLA KURLA

5000 5000 SION

0 [YEAR] 0 [YEAR] 2007 2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2010

MAHIM Real Estate Prices

Residential

Commercial

13 LEATHER Most persons involved with the leather industry are UP Muslims or Muslims/ Hindus from Tamilnadu. There are a number of Maharashtrians also making City of Enterprise bags and wallets. A singular exception is the Parsi, Darab Pedar, who has set The atmosphere in Dharavi, even on a holiday, is like being on a treadmill. up his own tannery in Aurangabad. Hides are procured from Deonar, salted, Everyone is busy – few people hang about. The streets are lined with hawkers then despatched to Aurangabad. He estimates the annual turnover in the raw selling everything from safety pins to fruits and suitcases. Behind them are a leather business in Dharavi to be around Rs.60 crore. With tanneries banned on fascinating array of shops: Satkar Jewellers, Ration Shop, Bhupendra Steel, grounds of pollution, Dharavi’s main leather business today is of finished goods, Husain Hotel, Swastik Electric & Hardware, Shreenath Jewellers and Mumbai there being about 30 large leather goods manufacturers and about 5,000 Polyclinic – that is a typical collection on 90 Feet Road. Hindu, Muslim, south, persons doing jobwork. north, food, jewellery, hardware, health care, all down one street! TEXTILES & TAILORING If you want to eat the best gulab jamuns in town, buy the best chikki, acquire Smaller jobbers can make around Rs.7 lakh per year and the bigger ones on an an export-quality leather handbag, order World Health Organization-certified average, double that amount. Workers, mainly from Bihar and some from sutures for surgery, see the latest design in ready-made garments made for Tamilnadu, are usually paid on a piece-rate basis and can earn upto Rs.150 per export, get a new suitcase or an old one repaired, taste food from the north day, with a unit on an average producing 500 to 600 shirts per day. A single and the south, see traditional south Indian gold jewellery – there are few better large unit can have a turnover of almost Rs.70 lakh a year. A rough estimate of places in all of Mumbai than Dharavi. 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, Estimates of the daily turnover of Dharavi can only be guesstimates as few and machine embroidery (done mainly by Bengalis). 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 FOOD INDUSTRY authority. But there is little doubt that it runs into crores of rupees. A rough The all-India women’s organization called Shri Mahila Griha Udhyog Lijjat Papad back-of-the-envelope calculation by Dharavi residents added up to between Rs is 40,000 members strong. In Mumbai, Lijjat has 8,000 registered members 1,500 crore and Rs 2,000 crore per year or at least Rs 5 crore a day! Dharavi who roll out papads (cracker or flat bread) to earn extra money. Around 50 of is a ‘gold mine’ without even considering property prices! 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 A 1986 survey of Dharavi by the National Slum Dwellers’ Federation (NSDF) biscuits which are in great demand. The best paid are those who tend the counted 1,044 manufacturing units of all kinds, big and small. A later survey ovens and they earn Rs.80 per day. Next in line are the kneaders who make by the Society for Human and Environmental Development (SHED) noted 1,700 the dough, and lastly, the packers and cleaners who get paid around Rs.25 units. The actual number is likely to be larger as many smaller units, which work per day. When the first bakery was set up in 1952, there were only two others; out of homes and lofts, would have fallen outside the scope of the surveys. today, there are over 25 bakeries in Dharavi.

The NSDF survey estimated there were 244 small-scale manufacturers RECYCLING employing from 5 to 10 persons each. The 43 big industries recorded in the According to the NSDF survey, Dharavi’s plastic recycling industry is the largest survey were probably only medium-scale production units. According to the in India employing over 5,000 people. The turnover in 1986 was an survey, there were 152 units making a variety of food items like chikki, papad estimated Rs.60 lakh a year and should be many times higher now. Every day, and chana dal; 50 printing presses; 111 restaurants; 722 scrap and recycling at least 3,000 sacks of plastic leave this area. The recyclers are paid daily units; 85 units working entirely for exports; and 25 bakeries. 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. 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 POTTERY to US malls, a one-time low level employee in a coal company who has moved There are around 2,000 families involved in pottery making. It takes about 4 way up in life – to a high-rise apartment! So no surprise that a 12-year old boy hours to make around a 100 big garden pots, which are sold to a trader at a working on a 12-hour shift in a tailoring unit dares to dream, fixed price.

“When I grow up, maybe I’ll (based on extracts from ‘Rediscovering Dharavi’. Figures quoted in this section relate to an earlier also own a factory!” 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 here in increasing numbers – globally workers to start with; now he employs too, the leather industry is expanding. 20 people and his turnover is over a While these most beautifully finished crore of rupees. and crafted leather goods sit in air- conditioned splendour, the men who Today, finished leather goods have labour over them work in cramped taken over as the main leather lofts or workshops, in bad light, business. Many of the goods on poor ventilation and stifling heat. display are either surplus or rejects Tough conditions regardless, the from export orders placed with leather leather business continues to be the goods manufacturers in Dharavi. dominant trade with which Dharavi is Customers from all over the city flock 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 Food-Making Chivda, boondi, sev, gathiyas…all Not so far away, at the crossroads, tasty, savoury snacks made from rice are the shops selling savouries and flakes or chickpea flour are part of sweets manufactured in the homes Dharavi’s food-making industry which just behind the shops. Ramaswamy is largely home-based. The sweet is one of the 27 chikki-makers chikki, made of peanuts and jaggery, from Tamilnadu, whose leader is a is a very popular item, not to forget Muslim and who is considered the the salty khari biscuits, the delicious father of their tribe. Ramaswamy’s butter biscuits, and fresh sliced- wife speaks only Tamil, but their bread and buns made in Dharavi’s 25 daughter is studying to be a chartered bakeries. accountant. Thanks to the sweet profits from chikki! The making of papads (cracker or flat bread) relies on the usage of open The world’s most complex lunch spaces like courtyards or terraces distribution network operates for drying of the wet papads. But in Mumbai: it’s an elaborate in crowded Dharavi, ingenious choreographing of the collection housewives manage to make the and delivery of more than 200,000 biggest use of the smallest of spaces. tin lunch boxes to office and other workers all across the city, and their The Punjabi Ghasitaram Halwai return to source. So efficient is the Karachiwala factory in Dharavi is the system that according to a recent largest sweets factory in Mumbai and survey, there is only one mistake in maybe in India. It is said to use 2,000 every 16,000,000 deliveries. Dharavi litres of buffalo milk and 800 litres of runs a flourishing dabba kitchen too. cow milk everyday. Very interestingly, The concept of the lunchbox courier workers from different regions (Dabbawala) originated in the 1880s produce the sweets of their region when India was under British rule. – so the Bengalis make chamchams Many Britishers opting for home- and rosgollahs, the Punjabis make cooked rather than local food, used ladoos and gulab jamuns, the this service to have lunch brought to Maharashtrians make kaju katri and their worktables. barfis and the bhaiyyas (migrants from Uttar Pradesh)make samosas.

20 21 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.

22 23 Recycling

First, the paper labels on the water Most of the garbage generated by bottles are torn off by hand and sent consumer-oriented Mumbaikars for further recycling into rough paper, arrives at Dharavi in big bags or then the blue caps get taken off. containers. Collected from all over The bottles are next despatched to the city, the garbage has already small workshops where the plastic gone through some rough sorting by is chopped into small flakes that can garbage pickers; now, a more careful either be exported or melted into sorting is done for further processing pellets for further use in the plastic at the 13th Compound, where the 60 industry. China is a big buyer of this Feet Road meets the Mahim-Sion kind of crude plastic. Link Road. This is the famed 13th Compound – where everything gets New products are made for further recycled. Oil cans, plastic drums, export around the globe. Products chemical drums, cotton scrap, iron we sit on, such as cushions and scrap, empty tins, empty bottles and soft seats as well as blankets, use a plastic drums, anything. Every day, at stuffing made from these recycled least 3,000 sacks of plastic leave this bottles. Also, the popular material for area. And what doesn’t get recycled warm clothing called ‘polyester fleece’ gets cleaned and sold second-hand, originates from these bottles. Did such as chemical drums which serve you know: Every 150 fleeces made as good water containers the second from plastic bottles saves a barrel of time round. oil (about 160 litres) and avoids about 500 kg. of toxic air pollution? A worrisome question is: will the Recycling Compound go the way of Not many know that Dharavi’s unique the tanneries…so as to make way plastic recycling industry is the largest for yet more housing on prime real in India (National Slum Dwellers estate? 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.

24 25 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 All this and more... employed, right from old-time pedal driven letterpress machines to screen Dharavi is home and workplace to about 6,00,000 people who live and printing studios and the latest digital printers. 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!

26 27 History Dharavi Riwa Fort

Before Bombay, there was Dharavi… Mahim In pre-colonial times, Dharavi, located on the northernmost tip of Parel Worli 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 1812 -16 left stranded, and the newly-surfaced marshy land offered new space for new ‘The Island of Bombay’ communities to move in. map by Capt. Thomas Dickinson clearly shows the presence of a fishing village (Koliwada).

28 29 30 shoulder.to shoulder surviving all entrepreneurs and languages, religions, different - India over all from townships and villages of mosaic amazing an became thus Dharavi sweets. and savouries making business, flourishing a up set Tamilians and trade, garments ready-made the started Pradesh Uttar from workers embroidery and Artisans Bandra). in abattoir the of proximity the of (because Tamilnadu from tanners leather Muslim the also as (Kumbharwada), colony their up set and here relocated were Saurashtra from end-1800s,By potters the city’sedge. the then was to what them pushed grew, authorities city the as but, Bombay south in settled first Communities Gujarat. and Konkan the like areas nearby and Maharashtra from were Bombay to migrations first The over. to cross foot-bridges to had build wet, people so were parts mid-1900s, the till even but solid more grew slowly land marshy The unregulated. and free was dump, rubbish informal an as used mainly land, the because so did there settle to people first The Bombay. into migration of pattern the with interwoven closely is development Dharavi’s of story The sky… into the jut mills of textile smokestacks tall the horizon, the near off, further kilns; potters’ the from rises smoke right, To the roads. dirt along goods with carts drag landscape…people swampy flat, the up break residences and sheds industrial small some left, the to lies village fishing old the 1800s… the of half latter the in station Mahim from out looking yourself Imagine

dharavi over the years 1800 1864 1897 1933 1969 1737

Growth of Dharavi

Riwa Fort ( Courtesy: Wikipedia ) 31 POST-INDEPENDENCE DEVEPLOPMENT PLAN 0F dharavi

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 HOSPITAL this time; sewer and water lines were laid down. MUNICIPAL PRIMARY SCHOOL Transit Camps were built to relocate people whose homes came in the way of SECONDARY SCHOOL SERVICE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE new roads and other infrastructural projects. MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL POLICE STATION 1981 & AFTER PLAYGROUND RECREATIONAL GROUND MUNICIPAL/PRIVATE/RETAIL MARKET 1981 MUNICIPAL HOUSING CEMETERY A Development Plan was prepared for the whole city including Dharavi. RESIDENTIAL ZONE SERVICE INDUSTRIAL ZONE 1985 GENERAL INDUSTRIAL ZONE 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 90ft Rights) generated from the project were sold for use outside Dharavi.

2004 60ft 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 RAILWAYS 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 ROADWAYS the land.

32 MAKEOVER OR TAKEOVER? SECTIONOR TWOMAKEOVER Development for Whom? Sundar Burra, Adviser, SPARC 5

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 4 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. 2

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) plan, as originally conceived a few 3 years ago, envisaged the division of Dharavi into 5 sectors. Bids were invited 1 from consortia of international and national developers to provide free housing 5 sector Plan 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.

standard Master Plan

36 37 The question of community participation or democratic involvement is not just The National Slum Dwellers Federation has had a presence in Dharavi for many a theoretical or academic issue nor is it trivial - it goes to the heart of the idea years through its local affiliate, the Dharavi Vikas Samiti (Dharavi Development of development. Turning your back on people's participation can be enormously Committee). Over the past few years, the residents of Dharavi have come damaging. For example, the kinds of urban form and design that the plan had together in a rainbow coalition of political parties, NGOs, different social envisaged would have meant the destruction of the livelihoods of the residents formations and individuals to form the Dharavi Bachao Andolan or Save Dharavi of Dharavi. The special feature of Dharavi is the intricate connection between Campaign. This grassroots group opposed the existing plans and started residence and work-place since about 80% of its population both live and work working with a group of professionals, retired bureaucrats, architects, planners there. Buildings of 30 storeys or 50 storeys would not allow the plethora of and NGO representatives, later transformed into the Committee of Experts small businesses and enterprises to survive. If people's livelihoods were to be (CoE), to work on alternatives. The Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of destroyed, they would no longer continue to live in the new Dharavi but rather, Architects (KRVIA) provided professional support and started to look at Dharavi they would shift to a slum where they could continue earning a living. Given the through the eyes of its residents. So, for example, instead of drawing arbitrary shortage of housing in Mumbai at all levels, this newly-built housing would have lines across Dharavi to demarcate different areas, an effort was made to group rapidly changed hands and the area would have become gentrified. Dharavi together proposed housing cooperative societies, chawls and those living would have become a huge housing and commercial complex but with no place within common social boundaries. This work has been completed in one sector for the poor. and some more time and effort are needed to flesh out a full-fledged alternative.

It needs to be underlined that when the original plans were proposed, there was It must be said that the appointment of a sympathetic and empathetic no baseline survey, there was no transport study, there was no environmental administrator for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project in 2008 helped in sorting assessment and there was no mechanism to coordinate the proposed out many of the issues raised above. There were also some other senior infrastructures in different sectors amongst themselves, and between them and bureaucrats at the State Government level, who had the interests of the poor at the rest of the city’s infrastructure. heart. It was also at this time that the CoE* was appointed by Government, to aid and advise the authorities. 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 It will be necessary to draw up a Master Plan in consultation with the residents adequate quantity in the new Dharavi? In the absence of a survey, it was not of Dharavi, a plan that is responsive to the needs and circumstances of the known how many families would have to be resettled. Again, considering the poor. Small groups and sub-clusters have to be formed, who can hook into fact that a majority of huts in Dharavi have one or two mezzanine floors, there the overall plan, as and when they are prepared to do so. State agencies must had been no attempt to count them and consider the eligibility for rehabilitation assert themselves forcefully as champions of the poor, arbitrating disputes of those persons and families living and working there. On the administrative between and overseeing contractual obligations of the different stakeholders side, no procedures were prescribed for grievance redressal or adjudication of involved. The task before us is clear: how do we meet the aspirations of the conflicting interests. Another extraordinary aspect is that no Development Plan people in a just and sustainable manner while enlisting their whole-hearted - as required by statute - was prepared for Dharavi! participation in the design and implementation of the redevelopment project?

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.

* See pg.46 for list of CoE members

38 39 process resistance of February 16, 2007 June 18, 2007 ‘All Dharavi does not qualify as slum’ ‘Redev. Plan ignores living/working

D. M. Sukthankar, a former chief secretry and later member of the CoE, raises conditions of people’

objections to the modifications of the Development Control Rules made to suit Black Flag Day on 18 June, 2007, highlighted the resentment the people of the redevelopment proposal, and writes the first of many letters to the then Dharavi had for the DRP when they marched on to the streets protesting the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development shortcomings of the proposal. The protest rally began at Dharavi T-junction and Authority (MHADA) I.S. Chahal. In his letter he states: 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 “..The Authority has been given the status of SPA for slum rehabilitation areas. its conception and formulation, and that it did not make provisions to safeguard However, this was not adequate in the case of Dharavi as the entire area is not a their livelihoods in the redevelopment scheme. ‘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: Flag “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?...

42 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 July 19, 2007 at the heart of the Constitutional mandate for democratic decentralization. There is no space for community participation.” ‘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.”

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.”

44 45 June 2008 June 3, 2009 World econ. crisis deters bidders ‘Aghast to find no surveys/studies done’

Unperturbed by the protests, the Government of Maharastra decided Extract of a letter from CoE to Sitaram Kunte, Secretary, Housing Department: to proceed with the distribution of tenders and invited bids from various multinational corporations. Tenders were floated and pre-qualification bids were “ The basic pre-requisites for a project of this magnitude and complexity were invited for the project. that it should have been preceded by a detailed socio-economic survey of Dharavi, besides a plane table and topographical survey, transportation studies, A total of 19 bids were received. The bidders included Allied Real Estate of infrastructure and environmental assessment studies etc. We were appalled to Bulgaria, a joint venture of Indiabulls and US Shia Homes, Runwal Group find that no such surveys and studies had been done and the bids were invited with Capital Land of Singapore, Emaar-MGF along with Dubai’s Expanse probably on the false assurance of the consultants that these studies were Constructions, a joint venture of Neptune Developers with Pacifica of US, and a either already conducted or were not necessary.” 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 June 15, 2009 In February 2009, a group of experts was formally appointed by the government ‘FSI 4 will cause unviable density ’ of Maharashtra as the Committee of Experts advising the government on the process of redevelopment. The members were: Extract of a letter to Johny Joseph, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra:

D.M. Sukthankar, IAS (Retd.), former Chief Secretary, GoM “..Accommodating the free sale FSI up to a limit of 4 makes the resultant Shirish Patel, structural engineer and urban planner density in Dharavi unworkable, in the sense that the requirements of Vidhyadhar Phatak, urban planner roads, open spaces, social amenities and facilities cannot be provided Chandrashekhar Prabhu, architect and housing activist to ensure a minimally acceptable quality of life. Further, adequate Arvind Adarkar, Director, Academy of Architecture distance between buildings necessary for basic minimum light and Neera Adarkar, architect and social activist ventilation also cannot be ensured...” Aneerudha Paul, Director, Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture A.Jockin, President, National Slum Dwellers Federation “The detailed socio-economic survey carried out in Dharavi Sheela Patel, Director, SPARC has revealed that there are about 57,000 households Sundar Burra, IAS (Retd.) and Adviser, SPARC 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.” 46 4 July 7, 2009 July 30, 2009 ‘A sophisticated land grab’ bidding suspended

Extract of a letter to Ashok Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra: 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 DRP is a sophisticated land grab. Over the years, residents from various the initial bidders, only 14 remained. But the process for receiving and opening parts of the city have been made to settle there by Government, while taking the bids was suspended indefinitely on July 30th morning. While there is much great care not to give them proper legal rights of occupancy. This legalisation speculation, it is not clear why the indefinite suspension took place. 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 August 24, 2009 shifted into less than half of the land they currently occupy. The rest of the land ‘Consultant not equipped to handle thus released from occupation will be commercially exploited and significant such a vast project’ 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 Extract of a letter to Sitaram Kunte, Housing Secretary: than the welfare of the residents of Dharavi.” “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 January 16, 2010 March 23, 2010 ‘Infrastructure still lacking’ ‘Objections to SRA Notification

Extract from a letter to Swadheen Kshatriya, Municipal Commissioner, Mumbai: Gist of points made in a letter to Gautam Chatterjee, Officer on Special Duty, DRP: “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 No Development Plan has been prepared for Dharavi , which under Section 21 from the MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) all its proposals of the MRTP Act, SRA is required to prepare. for infrastructure. I might mention here in passing that certain transit camps in The Development Plan needs to be accompanied by a report...which will Dharavi built about 20 years ago by MHADA still do not have water connections explain the purpose of the Development Plan, whether it is for the benefit of today and water is supplied by tankers. It should not be the case that tens of the residents or to make a profit for developers and for Government. No such thousands of residential and commercial units are built under DRP without an explanation has been provided. In the absence of a Development Plan, there is assurance of the necessary infrastructure, more particularly water.” 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.

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?”

50 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

section THREE tegy ra st E V TI A N R TE AL N A An Alternative Strategy Sector IV Plan with drp roads 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 45m wide drp road documentation, analysis and design only after consulting local residents 36m wide drp road 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. 30.40m wide drp road 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 27m wide drp road

D A

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

R

S

S

O

R

C

I

V A

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

A H living and working conditions so as to obtain a clear picture of the ground D 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. 36m wide drp road

30.40m wide drp road

Dharavi was divided into five principal sectors as per the decision of the Government of Maharashtra. These sectors were divided either by

i marking existing transport corridors of the city or new roads envisioned by the master plan. Sector IV is strategically

ge of Dharav located with the Bandra T-Junction a

m to its north-west, 90 Feet Road to its

ite I south-east, and sharing its south- ll west and north-east boundaries with te Sectors III and V respectively. e Sa l oog G

Sector Demarcation line Existing roads

56 57 58 Revised Sector Sector Revised o riginal Sector Sector riginal Demarcation Demarcation Comparison

SECTOR III SECTOR III SECTOR III SECTOR IV SECTOR IV SECTOR IV Total +Residential Commercial Industrial + Commercial Residential N ‘nagars’. existing of boundaries respect and slum the within patterns organizational existing preserve to was aim main The boundary. imposed externally an on not and patterns road internal existing of basis the on revised was IV Sector of demarcation the However, sectors. other the with deal to easier much become would it IV, then Sector by raised issues complicated many the address could we if that thought was it sector, easier an selecting by gains quick or fruit low-hanging the choose than Rather presented. it problems and complexities the of because focus the as IV Sector selected We below. elaborated be will which variations significant with but broadly Plan Sector the to with stay decided was It o. OfT

enements

10577 8547 1979 51 10577 oposed Pr S r I ecto

V Area = 3,51,497 Sq.Mts. Co-operative Housing Societies Grouping Together 1. Janshakti Katta Boman Co-op 12. Nityanand Co-op 22. Sai Akruti Co-op 32. Shivaji Co-op Area: 2194.16 sq.mt. Area: 2294.95 sq.mt. Area: 1111.05 sq.mt. Area: 3292.77 sq.mt. R = 96 C = 77 There is an existing system evident within Dharavi where residents have R = 136 C = 3 R = 173 C = 4 R = 83 C = 4 2. Ganesh Rahiwasi Sangh 13. Samrat Ashok Co-op 23. Shiv Shrusti Co-op 33. Shivaji 2 Co-op organized themselves into groups so as to adopt a common rehabilitation Co-op Area: 2211.67 sq.mt. Area: 1410.84 sq.mt. Area: 2307.56 sq.mt. Area: 2309.23 sq.mt. R = 153 C = 5 R = 73 C = 1 R = 132 C = 22 program. These organizational clusters have been mapped in terms of proposed R = 156 C = 8 14. Ganesh Co-op 24. Trimurti Co-op 34. Jivandhara Co-op co-operative housing societies, chawls and nagars as they exist in Sector IV. 3. Mahatma Gandhi Co-op Area: 1429.49 sq.mt. Area: 1182.71 sq.mt. Area: 942.50 sq.mt. Area: 1479.42 sq.mt. R = 75 C = 1 R = 86 C = 0 R = 57 C = 8 R = 77 C = 26 15. Sri Krupa Co-op 25. Parag Co-op 35. Samata Co-op 4. Indira Shakti Co-op Area: 1326.04 sq.mt. Area: 1302.06 sq.mt. Area: 2845.68 sq.mt. Area: 1119.31 sq.mt. R = 56 C = 6 R = 44 C = 5 R = 115 C = 40 R = 75 C =18 Co-operative Housing Societies 16. Laxmi Narayan Co-op 26. Magdhumia Co-op 36. Sarvodhaya Co-op 5. Nausheman Co-op Area: 3189.39 sq.mt. Area: 797.41 sq.mt. Area: 548 sq.mt. Area: 1265.70 sq.mt. R = 101 C = 15 R = 47 C = 0 R = 42 C = 4 Chawls R = 58 C = 19 17. Navjeet Co-op 27. Bhartiyaar Co-op 37. Vishwakunj Co-op 6. New Maharashtra Nagar Area: 2015.06 sq.mt. Area: 2326.80 sq.mt. Area: 4576.85 sq.mt. Nagars Co-op R = 64 C = 38 R = 153 C = 5 R = 249 C = 27 Area: 1141.15 sq.mt. R = 51 C = 24 18. Veer Lahuji Co-op 28. Gopinath Nagar (B) 38. Ujala Co-op Ambiguous Clusters Area: 1236.52 sq.mt. Co-op Area: 2217.97 sq.mt. 7. Bharat S.R.A. Co-op R = 118 C = 2 Area: 952.47 sq.mt. R = 20 C = 66 Area: 1726.80 sq.mt. R = 21 C = 29 Slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) buildings R = 111 C = 24 19. Shiv Krupa Co-op 39. Satkarya Co-op Area: 1591.89 sq.mt. 29. Gopinath Nagar (C) Area: 1980.29 sq.mt. 8. Jai Hind Co-op R = 46 C = 5 Co-op R = 88 C = 3 Area: 1212.68 sq.mt. Area: 1595.25 sq.mt. PRIVATE LANDS R = 60 C = 23 20. Jai Maharashtra R = 41 C = 40. Mangal Murti Co-op Co-op Area: 5086.94 sq.mt. 9. Gopinath Nagar (A) Co-op Area: 2012.88 sq.mt. 30. Navrang Co-op R = 201 C = 31 Area: 2544.10 sq.mt. R = 59 C = 6 Area: 4769.59 sq.mt. R = 32 C = 78 R = 192 C = 52 21. Prathishta Nagar 10. Panchsheel Co-op Co-op 31. Navrang 2 Co-op Area: 2433.44 sq.mt. Area: 3362.99 sq.mt. Area: 602.18 sq.mt. R = 173 C = 12 R = 154 C = 15 R = 30 C = 7 R: Residential C: Commercial 11. Moreshwar Co-op Area: 1310.45 sq.mt. R = 78 C = 7

1 10 3 2 11 39 12 4 40 13 5 6 19 20 7 16 14 15 Proposed housing 18 21 9 8 co-operative societies 22 17 38 are the smallest units for 23 24 29 28 residents to come together 26 to plan their future. In the SRA 31 27 30 policy, such projects were 25 32 approved if 70% of families 35 gave their consent. There are 33 37 about 40 such co-op societies 34 in Sector IV which are eminently 36 suitable forums for community participation and mobilization. ( most of the base While some societies are more material used for this study is available organized than others, it is at this in the public realm, level that the community produces and any details and shares information about its own would require further Sector IV members. The map shows cluster verification on site ) Plan of all areas combined demarcations of co-operative societies.

60 61 Chawls & Nagars Ambiguous Clusters

CHAWLS NAGARS 1. Ambiguous Cluster 1 6. Ambiguous Cluster 6 Area: 5408.22 sq.mt. Area: 7771.77 sq.mt. 1. Bismillah Chawl 8. Mariamma Chawl 15. Lal Patra Chawl 1. Bashweshwar Nagar R = 37 C = 86 R = 302 C = 91 Area: 1704.66 sq.mt. Area: 2468.41 sq.mt. Area: 850.66 sq.mt. Area: 11813.19 sq.mt. R = 114 C = 10 R = 118 C = 24 R = 17 C = 12 R = 392 C = 82 2. Ambiguous Cluster 2 7. Ambiguous Cluster 7 Area: 16674.54 sq.mt. Area: 1336.10 sq.mt. 2. Nehru Chawl 9. Rajiv Gandhi Chawl 16. Koli Jamat Chawl 2. Shiv Shakti R = 241 C = 82 R = 47 C = 46 Area: 2353.97 sq.mt. Area: 2692.38 sq.mt. Area: 1018.34 sq.mt. Area: 11110.25 sq.mt. R = 150 C = 31 R = 196 C = 8 R = 34 C = 14 R = 608 C = 26 3. Ambiguous Cluster 3 8. Ambiguous Cluster 8 Area: 6448.22 sq.mt. Area: 3717.69 sq.mt. 3. Sanjay Chawl 10. Rajiv Gandhi - 2 Chawl 17. B.M.C. Chawl 3. Indira Gandhi Nagar R = 208 C = 49 R = 96 C = 77 Area: 1555.50 sq.mt. Area: 1783.11 sq.mt. Area: 5605.06 sq.mt. Area: 3334.56 sq.mt. R = 88 C = 19 R = 101 C = 11 R = 108 C = 28 R = 193 C = 13 4. Ambiguous Cluster 4 9. Ambiguous Cluster 9 Area: 1630.25 sq.mt. Area: 7718.91 sq.mt. 4. Madina Chawl 11. Ganesh Chawl 4. Subhash Nagar R = 3 C =1 R = 452 C =86 Area: 2102.43 sq.mt. Area: 828.85 sq.mt. Area: 5355.67 sq.mt. R = 52 C =70 R = 52 C = 4 R = 250 C =24 5. Ambiguous Cluster 5 10. Ambiguous Cluster 10 Area: 4757.45 sq.mt. Area: 3678.09 sq.mt. 5. Anna Sheth Chawl 12. Bharti -2 Chawl R = 154 C = 88 R = 60 C = 79 Area: 1114.55 sq.mt. Area: 847.89 sq.mt. R = 43 C = 3 R = 57 C = 1

6. Shankar Kawade Chawl 13. Bharti Chawl Area: 886.20 sq.mt. Area: 780.56 sq.mt. R = 19 C = 13 R = 44 C = 3

7. Dr. Zakhir Hussain 14. Sambhaji Chawl Chawl Area: 2873.05 sq.mt. Area: 2029.78 sq.mt. R = 186 C = 13 R = 76 C = 23

1

2 5 1 2 Chawls 3 were a form of housing 4 4 built both by 3 government agencies and private employers 7 5 There were to accomodate migrant certain areas workers as the city began which could not 6 8 6 to industrialize in the early be captured by 1900s. They were made 7 8 the three groupings up of single room units in 1 10 11 (co-op societies, 3 or 4 storeyed structures, 9 12 chawls and nagars); 15 14 13 with wide common passages 16 these were termed as 3 and shared toilets. Generally, 2 ‘ambiguous areas’. The chawls had better infrastructure map above shows the 9 than slums and were occupied 17 physical marking of the by better-off residents in the ambiguous clusters. city. Larger clusters form nagars 4 - that have commonly accepted 10 boundaries though not a defined organizational pattern. There are about 20 chawls and 4 big nagars mapped in Sector IV.

62 63 Existing Commercial Zone House Types

Fully Leased So as to facilitate customer traffic, commercial activities Fully Residential Part Residential - Part Home-Based are mainly aligned along Industry/Commerce the 90 Feet Road and junctions of Sector Single Family Double Families Residents On Shared Rent Family Basis Shared Individual Basis IV’s primary roads. Separate Rent These commercial units include meat stores, eateries, grocery and mechanics’ shops, Fully Owned and tailoring, all for local markets. Textiles, leather goods and jari work Fully Residential Part Residential - Part Home-Based Part Residential - Part Leased Out are mainly export-oriented. Industry/Commerce

The commercial zone comprises 9% of Part Leased Out for Part Leased Out for the total area of Sector IV. commercial Residence Home-Based Industry/Commerce 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 Residential Commercial Residential + Commercial are strategically placed OWNEd & leased types of tenements 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. variations on the use of space

64 65 SRA buildings & PRIVATE LANDS Roads & Alleys

This map indicates the pedestrian pathways B areas demarcated as throughout Dharavi are SRA housing and connected to vehicular private lands. The roads that go on SRA & private to connect to the C lands together main roads of the comprise 29% of city. The vehicular the total area of Sector roads (AB, CD, and IV. Most of the SRA EF) mainly carry heavy A buildings concentrate on the vehicular traffic throughout D residential component of the the day. commercial and scheme since the commercial industrial tenements, shops component is sold as TDR. and informal markets line both F Even so, these buildings reveal sides of these roads. The narrow E a high density configuration with alleys filter the traffic and restrict poor lighting conditions, high vehicular movement - making them maintenance costs, lack of proper predominantly pedestrian, and infrastructure and facilities. Since safe and usable for children and 2004, when DRP was approved, residents. 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. Ab CD EF Public toilets and amenities comprise 1% of the total area of Sector IV. 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

66 67 Institutions MULTI-FUNCTIONAL COMMUNITY open Spaces residential open Spaces Religious Institutions There are religious The larger open areas allow institutions from small for multiple activities and large shrines to such as celebrating mosques and churches festivals, sports, spread all over the area, markets, other sharing common gathering community gatherings spaces and some strategically and work-related activities. located within multifunctional open They constitute a very spaces. All religious activities are well important socio-cultural space, integrated within the physical fabric strengthening the community and allow for strong social interaction spirit of the people of Dharavi. during religious festivals as well as in day-to-day life. The smaller open spaces are used for day-to-day activites like washing/drying clothes, cutting Educational Institutions vegetables, small-scale embroidery, The kind of educational institutions etc. These serve as pause spaces for that are found in Dharavi are not religious institutions educational institutions informal gatherings and for children to very high-end but comprise small medical institutions play besides providing breathing space. 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.

68 69 Strategy to Prepare a Objectives Of the master plan 1. Make sure that people are consulted at every Master Plan stage of data collection, design, formulation A bird’s eye view of Dharavi would show a sea of tin roofs, some buildings and and implementation. industrial enterprises seemingly located in random fashion. The central element 2. Guarantee that no one is evicted from Dharavi. of the alternative strategy is to map residents’ associations (proposed housing co-operatives), chawls and occupational groupings and commercial units, 3. break down five sectors into numerous SRA housing and private lands, institutions and roads and alleys. This visual smaller clusters based on existing natural representation helped uncover patterns, housing typologies and their linkages within Dharavi, with the city, and globally. The CoE when presented with these and social boundaries, and take into account underlined patterns came up with a set of guidelines. These form the basis the need to protect people’s livelihoods. of the strategy upon which an alternative master plan was conceptualized. They also make up the framework of rules and regulations within which the 4. With the consent of the residents of Dharavi, aspirations of residents for incremental housing can be formulated and defined. develop a framework for redevelopment that These guidelines are yet to be negotiated with GoM. 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 people’s social amenities with an orientation towards pedestrianization, which is separately organizations financed and implemented by public authorities. government 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 professionals and for housing. academics 8. Limit the use of Floor Space Index (FSI) as activists financial incentive only to the extent that is absolutely necessary to make the project viable. strategies 71 STRATEGY: STRENGHTENING OF ROADS primary vehicular roads The existing 90 Ft. and the T-junction Sion Link Roads will act as the major vehicular transport roads. The first step towards initiating the redevelopment process was to ensure that all the infrastructure and amenities were in place. That involved strengthening secondary vehicular roads of the road network of Sector IV. There are two main roads running across These are proposed to be 18 mts. wide as per the development control Sector IV connecting the 90 Feet Road and the road edging the sector regulations. Smaller transport like haath-gaadis, cars and rickshaws can be boundary. The strategy adopted towards strengthening the road network was permitted to ply on these roads but not heavy vehicles. 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 majorly pedestrian - partly vehicular roads vehicular traffic. These roads form the primary road network across the region. 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. 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 co- operative 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 mapped co-operatives, chawls interests of and nagars (Refer pg. 60) pedestrianization and vehicular traffic, recognizing that in order to attract cross- subsidy there will have to be an increase in the latter.

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 primary vehicular roads the levels of co-operatives, chawls secondary vehicular roads and nagars. majorly pedestrian - partly vehicular roads

72 73 strategy: STrengthening Of OPEN SPACES FSI plan

The existing regulations under the DRP say that 1.25 hectares of recreational The map shows ground shall be provided for Sector IV. Presently, the open spaces remain the existing Floor scattered across Dharavi, most of which do not have direct road access. These Space Index for open spaces are generally around religious institutions and are used during different clusters festivities and religious celebrations. Rather than creating new open spaces generated by which would disturb the present scenario, the design strategy attempts to the density of strengthen and upgrade the existing open spaces. These smaller intimate tenements on spaces would be under the control of local neighbourhood communities. site. Educational institutions will be placed adjoining these spaces, so that the grounds can also be used as playgrounds.

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.

PROPOSED OPEN SPACES PROPOSED INSTITUTIONS AND AMENITIES Density Less than 500 tenements per hectare

Density Greater than 500 but Less than 750 tenements per hectare

The establishment of roads and the demarcation of the open spaces have Density Greater than 750 but Less than 1000 tenements per hectare 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 Density Greater than 1000 tenements per hectare site individually.

74 75 STRATEGY: tO each its Own scenariO Scenario One

The strategy for planning evolved out of creating manageable clusters in terms This scenario is based on the of societies/chawls/nagars that can participate in taking decisions on the future conventional SRA scheme where of their own development. The road networks, open space networks, and the the community invites a builder to organization of amenities have been planned taking these into consideration. negotiate possibilities where both The residents of each cluster can take decisions on their redevelopment parties benefit. The co-operative approach according to its needs. If the residents of a predominantly residential societies, chawls and nagars cluster believe that they would benefit more from the SRA approach, then they amalgamate to form 23 large clusters. could appoint their own builder/developer. Another approach might be that These further combine to form 6 large if the residents of a cluster where work activity is predominant feel that the sub-sectors each of which could be present SRA model is not suitable for them, then they may choose a model independently developed. where they could partially self-finance their redevelopment.

Scenarios for redevelopment are thus predicated upon choices available to divisions showing co-op societies, chawls,nagars 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.

divisions showing roads and FoRMATIoN oF 23 LARGE CLUSTERS

divisions showing FoRMATIoN oF SIX sub-sectors FoR DEVELoPMENT

76 77 Scenario TWO Strengthening the existing roads by widening them such that they permit the movement of This is a scenario which can be applied to ambiguous clusters with work vehicular and pedestrian traffic along these activities, where only slum dwellers who have less then 300 sq ft. houses roads. 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.

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.

Plan Showing ambiguous clusters

78 79 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 Afterwords between an informal Dharavi and the formal apparatus of government. What is working together, learning together 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 What are the reasons for large areas of the city remaining informal? For one CoE to better legitimize the alternative in its negotiations with State agencies. thing, state institutions and developmental interventions neglect them for long periods and leave them to their own devices. And when formal processes For the Government of Maharashtra and for governments elsewhere, the waken to the needs of these areas and populations, they do not know how project has much to contribute by way of exploring alternative approaches to to recognize and value the collective investments that people have made slum redevelopment within existing informal settlements. The most obvious in producing and maintaining their neighbourhoods. Unfortunately, the insight is the need to develop institutional protocols to document existing automatic reflex of official agencies seems to be to demolish what people have neighbourhoods and the role played by local residents in producing and painstakingly built up. maintaining them.

The strategy crafted to formulate a master plan has been the outcome of a Dharavi and similar large informal settlements make us aware of the price paid collaborative process between the residents of Dharavi, their community-based and the costs incurred as a result of long neglect. Redevelopment becomes organizations, an academic institution and professional experts in dialogue with that much harder when the people’s incremental process has moved too far the Government of Maharashtra. Consultation and transparency have been the ahead for it to be reconciled with the requirements of a formal master plan. guiding principles of this work. This is a plan whose formulation first documents and acknowledges what communities and neighbourhoods have done, and then Finally, the Dharavi Redevelopment Project also demonstrates the builds upon that foundation to produce a plan. The plan then forms the basis of uncomfortable truth that informal localities attract the keen attention of the a much-needed dialogue between the government and the residents of Dharavi State and of the real estate industry, when the value of the lands they occupy, rather than produce an image of a Dharavi in which people cannot see their begins to soar. lives and their livelihoods reflected.

This project has produced a wide range of insights for all who have participated Sheela Patel, Director, SPARC in its implementation as well as for those who have assisted and supported this Aneerudha Paul, Director, KRVIA process in different ways. For the residents and their organizations, the very act November 2010 of documenting their present realities has initiated them and their leadership Mumbai 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 SPARC KRVIA fuelling protests – particularly in a context where people are accustomed Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture to informal, incremental and cumulative activities of building of homes and 2nd Floor, Marathi Municipal School, and Environmental Studies. neighbourhoods but are now required by the formal planning process to deliver 1st Khetwadi Lane, Mumbai 400 004 Vidyanidhi Marg, Off 10th Rd, Juhu Scheme Mumbai 400 049 a full-bloom product. Tel. +91 22 23858785, +91 22 23865053, Tel. +91 22 26700918, +91 22 26208539 [email protected] [email protected] www.sparcindia.org www.krvia.ac.in

80 81 82 SPARC|KRVIA