'If all of us (all the 57 Shiv Sena MLAs) stand together we can change the dynamic. We are not afraid of anyone.'
'The market today is different -- more mature and conducive. As a national player, you can't not be in Mumbai. And competition is always good.'
The ongoing survey for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project has surpassed the scope of the 2007-08 survey, with over 63,000 tenements already mapped. The survey, which includes ground floor and upper floor structures, aims to provide housing for all residents of Dharavi, including those in existing SRA buildings and on RLDA Land. The project, undertaken by Navbharat Mega Developers Private Limited (NMDPL), aims to construct nearly 1.5 lakh tenements to accommodate the growing population of Dharavi.
The Adani Group, which won the Dharavi Redevelopment Project from the state government last year, on Monday said it has onboarded three city planners, including Hafeez Contractor, to present a draft redevelopment plan for the largest slum cluster in Asia. In a statement, the group, which has promised to invest Rs 21,000 crore in the first phase, has roped in world famous architect Hafeez Contractor, design firm Sasaki, and consultancy firm Buro Happold as city and infrastructure planners for the project.
Representatives of Citizen and Society Development Welfare, who have given the slogan of Dharavi Banao Andolan, met Srinivas and submitted a memorandum seeking expedition of the survey being conducted in Dharavi.
The multi-crore Dharavi slum redevelopment project involves no land transfer to the Adani group but to the Maharashtra government's departments, and the Ahmedabad-based conglomerate, as a project developer, will build houses that will be handed over to the same departments for allotment to residents of Asia's biggest slums, sources said. Denying allegations of land grab made by MP Varsha Gaikwad, sources close to the project said land parcels are to be transferred only to Dharavi Redevelopment Project/Slum Rehabilitation Authority (DRP/SRA) of the state government's housing department.
'When honest, wealthy people come forward to serve India, people should feel proud and welcome them.'
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
Dharavi resident advocate Sandip Katake alleged the project would be the world's biggest land scam.
This pertains to certain irregularities in loan disbursements towards the development of two Slum Rehabilitation Authority projects undertaken by the company in the past.
'Gautam Adani will not be able to step inside Dharavi.' 'We will ensure Adani will not get what he wants.' 'Adani has no reason to do politics with people of Dharavi but he is still doing it.'
The man, who lived in a building constructed under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority scheme, had no foreign travel history, said a health official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Seven people, including two minors, were killed and over 40 injured after a fire swept through a residential building in Mumbai's Goregaon area in the early hours of Friday, a civic official said. Five of the injured are in a critical condition.
An official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said a doctor who had a clinic on Dharavi's main road and who was also attached as a surgeon to a prominent private hospital tested positive for the virus.
Many people's groups have taken up the cause of Mumbai's slum dwellers, especially since the city municipal authorities set up the Slum Rehabilitation Authority.
Activist Medha Patkar, along with 200 other protestors, was detained by the Mumbai police at Santacruz in suburban Mumbai, after she blocked the Western Express Highway on Thursday morning. Traffic movement near the highway was affected by the blockade for over two hours. Patkar and local residents were protesting the demolition of several homes for a slum rehabilitation authority project in Golibar in Santacruz.
Special court judge M G Deshpande, who has granted bail to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, terming his arrest as "illegal, without reason and a witch-hunt", had pulled up the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on multiple occasions this year over its approach in dealing with money laundering cases.
Police have registered a case of forgery and corruption against Anand Rao, builder and son-in-law of late Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan, and two former Chief Executive Officers of Maharashtra's Slum Rehabilitation Authority.
The Slum Rehabilitation Authority of Maharashtra has once again extended the last date for submission of expression of interest for the Rs 10,000-crore (Rs 100 billion) Dharavi Redevelopment Project to August 30.
Hiranandani, K Raheja Builders, Gamon Infrastructure and Kalpataru are reported to have shown interest in the Rs 9,300-crore project, launched by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) of the Maharashtra government.
The submission of EOI forms started on July 1 and was supposed to end on July 31.
Naidu informed this to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, during a meeting at the state government's Sahyadri guest house in south Mumbai.
A whopping 15 lakh people live in small shanties dotting the narrow bylanes of Dharavi, making it one of the most congested areas of Mumbai.
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested the chairman and the managing director (MD) of Mumbai-based Omkar Realtors and Developers in connection with a money laundering case against them linked to the alleged loan fraud in Yes Bank, official sources said on Wednesday.
US-based Oaktree on Monday pipped Piramal Enterprises and Adani Group to emerge as the highest bidder for DHFL after fresh bids were invited under the insolvency process, according to sources. The committee of creditors had fixed December 14 as the last for submission of revised bids. According to the sources, Oaktree raised the bid to Rs 36,646 crore, including Rs 1,000 crore for insurance and Rs 3,000 crore of interest earned, while Piramal Enterprises offered Rs 35,550 crore, including Rs 300 for insurance and Rs 3,000 of interest earned.
Even as its demand for disenfranchisement of Muslims community has evoked sharp reactions from political parties, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday sought to know why the issue of voting rights of Kashmiri Pandits has not been raised in the same manner.
Quoting the FIR registered on the basis of a complaint, the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai said accused Nailesh Mehta of Dev Developers in Andheri pretended himself as the partner of Zoomi Construction Company by preparing fake documents and acquired the latter's rightful TDR from the Slum Rehabilitation Authority.
Mumbai's 45 mohalla committees and the many voluntary groups working to bring communities together in the city can be counted upon to do their utmost to stop riots.
More than two weeks after a wall collapsed in suburban Mumbai, killing 30 people and injuring more than 100, Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore and Hitesh Harisinghani visit the area to know how the survivors devastated by the deluge are coping with their lives.