Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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 KRVIAs 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 Swedens 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 fr 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.
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
SPARC
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
Contents
Introduction: Building a World Class Model for Slum Redevelopment 06 10 14
Locating Dharavi Land of High Returns City of Enterprise 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
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64 66 68 70 72
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Introduction
by Sheela Patel, Director, SPARC
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 Africas 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 dont 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 dont 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.
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 worlds 30 mega-slums and Asias 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 Mumbais 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 .
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 developersthe small fishing village of the 18th century has come a long way indeed!
BANDRA BKC
KURLA
SION
DHARAVI
MAHIM
MUMBAI
KINGS CIRCLE
DADAR
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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 Mumbaicleared and revamped, it would count among the most valuable real estate in the world!
[INR]
40000
BANDRA [W]
30000 35000
BKC
30000 25000
GOLD MINE
BKC KURLA
25000 20000
BANDRA [W]
MAHIM
15000
20000
SION
15000
MAHIM
10000
BANDRA
DHARAVI
KURLA
5000
10000
SION KURLA
5000
SION
2007
2008
2009
2010
[YEAR]
2007
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[YEAR]
MAHIM
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City of Enterprise
LEATHER
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. Dharavis 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,
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, Dharavis main leather business today is of finished goods, there being about 30 large leather goods manufacturers and about 5,000 persons doing jobwork. 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).
The all-India womens 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. Dharavis 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. According to the NSDF survey, Dharavis 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.
FOOD INDUSTRY
RECYCLING
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.)
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Leather
Leather production was one of the first industries to be established in Dharavi. Muslim tanners migrated from Tamilnadu to Mumbai in the mid1800s 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.
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Food-Making
Chivda, boondi, sev, gathiyasall tasty, savoury snacks made from rice flakes or chickpea flour are part of Dharavis 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 Dharavis 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. Ramaswamys wife speaks only Tamil, but their daughter is studying to be a chartered accountant. Thanks to the sweet profits from chikki! The worlds most complex lunch distribution network operates in Mumbai: its 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.
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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.
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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 Dharavis 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 doesnt 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 tanneriesso as to make way for yet more housing on prime real estate?
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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 others kites in kite fights are also made locally and known as manja (a mix of ground glass and chemical glue coating the thread).
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, theres 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.
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.
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History
Dharavi
Riwa Fort
Mahim
COLONIAL
The Island of Bombay map by Capt. Thomas Dickinson clearly shows the presence of a fishing village (Koliwada).
1812 -16
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1969
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 citys edge.
1897
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.
1933
The story of Dharavis 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.
Growth of Dharavi
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 landscapepeople 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
1864
1800
1737
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( Courtesy: Wikipedia )
Riwa Fort 31
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 Dadars 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.
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
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 Ministers 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.
90ft
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 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.
RAILWAYS ROADWAYS
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5 sector Plan
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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 citys 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?
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f so s e c o r p resistance
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
May 9, 2007
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June 2008
June 3, 2009
February 2, 2009
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.
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July 7, 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.
November 4, 2009
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.
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Impact!
The process of peoples 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.
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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.
Existing roads 57
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.
SECTOR IV
SECTOR III
SECTOR IV
No. Of Tenements
Comparison
Proposed Sector IV
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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.
SECTOR III
SECTOR III
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
R: Residential C: Commercial
1 10 11 39 40 12 13 4 5 7 8 6 3 2
( 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
20 19 16 14 15 18 Proposed housing 21 9 17 38 co-operative societies 22 are the smallest units for 28 24 23 29 residents to come together 26 31 to plan their future. In the SRA 30 27 policy, such projects were 25 32 approved if 70% of families 35 33 gave their consent. There are 37 34 about 40 such co-op societies 36 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.
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Ambiguous Clusters
NAGARS
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. Ambiguous Cluster 1 Area: 5408.22 sq.mt. R = 37 C = 86 2. Ambiguous Cluster 2 Area: 16674.54 sq.mt. R = 241 C = 82 3. Ambiguous Cluster 3 Area: 6448.22 sq.mt. R = 208 C = 49 4. Ambiguous Cluster 4 Area: 1630.25 sq.mt. R = 3 C =1 5. Ambiguous Cluster 5 Area: 4757.45 sq.mt. R = 154 C = 88 6. Ambiguous Cluster 6 Area: 7771.77 sq.mt. R = 302 C = 91 7. Ambiguous Cluster 7 Area: 1336.10 sq.mt. R = 47 C = 46 8. Ambiguous Cluster 8 Area: 3717.69 sq.mt. R = 96 C = 77 9. Ambiguous Cluster 9 Area: 7718.91 sq.mt. R = 452 C =86 10. Ambiguous Cluster 10 Area: 3678.09 sq.mt. R = 60 C = 79
2 3 4 4 3
Chawls were a form of housing built both by government agencies and private employers to accomodate migrant workers as the city began 6 to industrialize in the early 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.
1 15 16 2 9
8 10 11 12 14 13 3
17 4
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.
10
7 6 8
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House Types
Fully Leased
Part Residential - Part Home-Based Industry/Commerce Residents On Shared Rent Family Basis Shared Individual Basis
Single Family
Fully Owned
Fully Residential Part Residential - Part Home-Based Industry/Commerce Part Leased Out for Residence Part Residential - Part Leased Out
Residential
Commercial
Residential + Commercial
B C D E F
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.
Ab CD EF
TRAFFIC LOADING
average no. of vehicles/hour
Road
2Wheeler bicycle / haath-gAAdi Auto car truck goods carriage
Ab
33 8 16 16 23 4
cd
77 4 2 13 2 2
ef
29 71
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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.
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peoples organizations
government
strategies
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 peoples 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.
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The existing 90 Ft. and the T-junction Sion Link Roads will act as the major vehicular transport 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.
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.
primary vehicular roads secondary vehicular roads majorly pedestrian - partly vehicular roads
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.
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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.
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 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.
Density Greater than 750 but Less than 1000 tenements per hectare Density Greater than 1000 tenements per hectare
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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
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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.
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.
Plan Showing ambiguous clusters
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Afterwords
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 peoples 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. Sheela Patel, Director, SPARC Aneerudha Paul, Director, KRVIA November 2010 Mumbai
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
SPARC
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
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S PA R C | K R V I A