The Dharavi Redevelopment Committee (DRC) that has about 22,000 members is upset over the government's decision to call for a fresh tender. Rajendra Korde, who heads DCR said, "It seems no one wants to undertake redevelopment and improve the living of slum dwellers here. Already the real estate industry is badly hit and Dharavi being a huge redevelopment project, no one is coming forward to take up the work." Earlier too, the tender had received only two bidders despite being given extensions, he asserted.
Interestingly, the committee had submitted about thousands of signatures of residents, commercial owners among other staying in Dharavi, appealing the government to continue the redevelopment work with the selected bidder instead of cancelling the tender and further delaying the project. Reportedly, Dubai based Seclink Technology Corporation which had won the tender in February, as it quoted Rs 7,200 crore, outbidding its competitor Adani Infrastructure, which bid at Rs 4,539 crore. The revamp plan envisages giving 350 square-feet carpet area homes along with a handsome corpus to existing residents.
However, despite receiving a financially strong bidder, no official pact was signed by the government. The reason given was a change in plan. The government had decided to include Railway owned land in the proposed project. Korde stated, "It is disheartening that people of Dharavi are living in in-human condition having no proper toilet facility or civic infrastructure due to government's inefficiency to expedite redevelopment. Some hope had come after Seclink had won the bid but now since the tender has been scrapped it seems the wait for new homes will be forever."
