Mumbai: While Dharavi residents were promised key-to-key rehabilitation—straight from slum to flat—they are now being warned against resisting eviction.Residents who delay vacating their homes will receive reduced rent and will not be provided a one-time shifting allowance, according to a press release issued by Adani Navbharat Developers Pvt Ltd, the special purpose vehicle implementing the Dharavi redevelopment project. It said a ground floor resident will get only Rs 15,000 per month, down from Rs 18,000, and an upper storey resident Rs 12,000, instead of Rs 15,000. A commercial unit will receive Rs 145sqft instead of Rs 175sqft, it said.The press release said Dharavi is a vital infrastructure project and a “few cases of deliberate delay should not hold up the homes and other benefits due to almost 10 lakh people”. “Under Sections 33 and 38 of Maharashtra Slum Areas Act, 1971, and Regulation 33(10)A of DCPR 2034, action can be taken against residents who deliberately try to delay a vital infrastructure project. They may thereafter no longer be entitled to rental or transit accommodation benefits,” it said.Eviction notices have been issued to residents of Sector 6, which includes Ganpat Nagar, Meghwadi and Azad Nagar. Recently, four households in Ganpat Nagar were forcibly evicted, while 12 voluntarily moved out.Dharavi residents, on the condition of anonymity, said finding alternative accommodation with the rent being provided is impossible. With several thousand households set to be evicted, they now face the prospect of becoming homeless.Residents said there is an atmosphere of fear. They alleged that the company first sent “agents”, who are locals, to “persuade” residents to vacate. “We have to vacate. We might as well do it,” said a despondent resident.Another resident pointed out that the minimum rent for a one-room-kitchen in Mahim is Rs 35,000 per month. “With so many residents being made to vacate, where are the rooms available on rent? The rent being offered will get us something only outside the city.”“Construction on railway land was taken up because there is no open space in Dharavi and we were to be moved directly into the rehab flats, but now we are worried,” said another resident.
