Dharavi Redevelopment: Panel Identifies 691 Religious Structures, Count Likely To Rise

The committee headed by former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Justice (Retd) Dilip Bhosale, has identified 691 religious structures within Dharavi, the sprawling Mumbai slum notified for redevelopment. The figure was disclosed in an interim report submitted to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday.

Sources said the number is expected to rise as the survey of the redevelopment area is still underway.

The committee, constituted in 2024, has been tasked with examining religious structures located within the notified redevelopment area. It also includes Justice M.G. Akbar Ali of the Madras High Court and is empowered to take decisions regarding such structures.

The panel has the authority to determine whether a religious structure existed before September 2009. Based on its findings, it will decide whether a structure qualifies for regularisation, relocation or consolidation under the Development Control Regulations, or whether it should be declared ineligible.

The committee's mandate covers places of worship across all faiths, including temples, mosques, churches and viharas.

So far, hearings have been completed for 148 structures.

Spread across nearly 600 acres, the Dharavi notified area is estimated to house more than one lakh residential, commercial and industrial units.

Officials believe the total number of religious structures in the area could eventually exceed 1,000 once the survey is completed.

The issue of illegal religious structures in Mumbai has long remained politically and socially sensitive.

In 2012, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) identified 534 religious structures across the city as illegal and unregularised.

The findings of the Bhosale committee are expected to play a crucial role in determining how religious structures are accommodated within the ambitious Dharavi redevelopment project.

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