Mumbai: The Dharavi Redevelopment Project Cell, will be given a special police force to protect the officials who will conduct the eviction drive as part of the redevelopment project. This special force will be stationed at Dharavi once the project starts. In a bid to make the Dharavi redevelopment project successful, the state government had issued a government resolution (GR) last November, stating the officials will be provided with a special police force, who will undertake the eviction of slum dwellers, said an official from the Dharavi Redevelopment Project cell.
“This is to ensure, the eviction of all slum dwellers is undertaken without any resistance or violence,” said the official. The state claims, in this project, 60,000 families who are living in these slums will get homes with modern amenities. In a recent development, the state also received a nod to get 45 acres of railway owned land for building transit houses for slum dwellers till they were rehabilitated. This land is part of two land parcels owned by the Western Railways and Central Railways in the Matunga-Mahim area. In exchange for land, the state government will make an upfront payment of Rs 800 crore to the Railways. In addition, the state will also offer it a 20 per cent share of the profits.
So far the state has not officially handed over the project, although the bids closed on January 24. The two companies — Adani Group and Dubai based Seclink Group had shown interest in this project. According to an official said, “The scrutiny of these two companies is going on and only after it is completed, the decision to hand over the project to the respective company will be taken.”
