DHARAVI, MUMBAI

Dharavi, a slum area in Mumbai started as a fishermen’s settlement at the then outskirts of Bombay (now Mumbai) and expanded gradually,
especially as a tannery and leather processing centre of the city. Now it is said to count 800,000 inhabitants, or perhaps even a million, and
has become encircled by the expanding metropolis. It is the biggest slum in the city and perhaps the largest in India and even in Asia.
Moreover, Dharavi has been discovered, so to say, as a votebank, as a location of novels, as a tourist destination, as a crime-site with
Bollywood mafiosi skilfully jumping from one rooftop to the other, till the ill-famous Slumdog Millionaire movie, and as a planned massive
redevelopment project. It has been given a cult status, and paraphrasing the proud former Latin-like device of Bombay’s coat of arms “Urbs
Prima in Indis”, Dharavi could be endowed with the words “Slum Primus in Indis”.

Today, Dharavi occupies a territory of about 2 square kilometers located in the geographic heart of
Greater Mumbai , right South of the newly established Bandra-Kurla business complex, and east of
Mahim Bay. For this reason, and due to the increasingly high land prices in Mumbai, Dharavi is
attracting attention on part of governments and private developers, and facing strong pressure from the
city as a whole.

The population estimates for Dharavi vary between 600,000 and 1 million people: its high density of 314,887 persons per
square kilometer

FACTS
1)14 million people live in Mumbai, Half in “hutments”.

2)One family of 12 lives in 90 sq. ft.

3)55 percent of the population of Mumbai lives in slums. Approximately seven million people in mumbai lives in slums.

4)15,000 “hutmen factories” export goods all over the world.

5)Its is believed that 72 percent of this slum population is literate.

6)16 public toilets per 3000 people one water tap per 100 people.

7)Open sewers in the middle of the street, sewers are often non existent. Here drums of excrement are dumped.
A Thriving Hub Of Industry
Dharavi is a hub for small-scale industries (unorganized sectors such as leather industry, waste recycling industry, etc), and exports goods across the globe with an estimated
annual turnover of around $ 1 billion. It has approximately 5,000 business entities, with 15,000 in-house single-room factories for production. Generally, people from Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, and Gujarat come to work in these industries.

According to residents of Dharavi, 60% of Mumbai’s segregated waste comes to Dharavi for processing; indicating the vital role of waste recycling and processing units of
Dharavi in maintaining and managing Mumbai’s solid waste management landscape. They are not only managing the waste, but they are making big money out of it and
generating employment as well. Dharavi is home to some 30,000 rag pickers — scavengers who find and sort recyclable scraps from the city’s garbage dumps.

Small-Scale Industries/Factories
1) Leather industries:
It is the most prominent industry, with the highest share of turnover among all industries in Dharavi. Large profit margins are involved in these industries,

attracting young entrepreneurs. Most of these units make use of animal skin (mainly Sheep, Goat, and Buffalo) collected from slaughter houses for processing

into leather. Animal skin is washed in a washing machine (made up of wood) with a large capacity, and then cut into the desired length.
After the cutting process, the leather piece is put into the pressing machine with the desired pattern and design. Semi-finished leather pieces, after

pressing, are made into the final products, such as belt, purse, wallet, etc. These products are then exported to foreign brands in very large amounts.

2) Plastic recycling industries:

This industry has three phases in the recycling process. Mixed plastic waste is segregated and sorted on the basis of color and hardness. Segregated
and sorted plastic waste is crushed in a crushing machine into plastic chips. Plastic chips are washed for dirt removal and then sun-dried before
melting them to make into small plastic tablets or pellets. One recycling unit recycles, on an average, four tons of plastic waste a day.
 3) Garment Industry
Dharavi’s garments business, unlike the leather trade, seems to have remained immune to the ups and downs of the export trade because it caters mainly to
the local market. You will find evidence of this in one of the lanes of Social Nagar where there are over a dozen shops on either side selling clothes and
ready-mades.

There are few other garment exporters in Dharavi but there are hundreds who take on job work for exporters. They are around every corner in the rebuilt Chamda
Bazaar or Bageecha area which was razed to the ground during the 1992-93 riots. But the majority of garment manufacturers in Dharavi cater to the local and
national market.

Conclusion
One can conclude, from this visit, that the Dharavi slum is far different from the general perception of the slum. It is a slum which has 5,000 different businesses, as well as

industries that export the products of these businesses. It is a slum that has an annual turnover of more than $ 1 billion. The visit showed me what we can do with the waste

of recycling industries and unused waste from dumps. I left with the thought that it’s not just a slum — it’s a slum with immense opportunities that lie within.
RESIDENTS
A majority of the residents of Dharavi belong to the dalit caste especially the
Adidravidars of the Tamil people, they had also built a ganesh temple and
“Adidravidar mahajana Sangham” which own the piece of land and the area
adjoining the temple.Other caste and tribes are also present. Minorities including
Christians, Muslims and Buddhists

slum conditions

Dharavi’s residents encounter a city that does not serve their needs. The right to the city
– intended as the right to receive urban services – is largely denied to the population of
Dharavi, which struggles daily to access basic amenities like water and sanitation.

Women have to wake up as early as 4am to ensure their family has enough water to go through the day. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) only serves
water for a couple of hours every day. In some areas, the water pumps are active for 30 minutes every day, and families have to queue up in order to stock up for the rest
of the day. Water pumps are shared between different family groups, who have to send an application to the BMC, provided that their documents attest their residence in
Dharavi since prior to 1995, and pay a monthly tax for the service.

In terms of sanitation, the situation looks even more grim This is in part due to the lack of empty space, which doesn’t allow for the construction of additional independent
toilet facilities, and partly to slum regulation, which doesn’t allow for the inclusion of private toilets within the homes. In some extreme cases, 10,000 residents have access
to only one toilet. The high density of housing units, together with the lack of urban infrastructure, makes Dharavi a space of struggle, of inhumane living conditions.

The countless number of ramshackle houses placed together in tiny spaces increases the risk of a devastating fire breaking out or the potential for
damage when monsoon season is in full force. Overall, there is a lack of privacy and hygiene. And because of the ramshackle and unregulated method
Dharavi was built, wages are generally very low, and working conditions are bad. Geographically, the slum is built between two railway lines and can be
loud and generally not peaceful.
 Advantages
● efficient use of space
● strong sense of community with many generations living together, often
in one room
● informal economy contributes to Mumbai's function (e.g. recycling,
pottery) and provides employment for unskilled or unqualified workers
● despite being objectively low, employment and education rates are
higher in Dharavi than rural India, where the migrants came from
Disadvantages
● lack of proper sanitation (e.g. 300 people per toilet)
● diseases such as cholera, typhoid and tuberculosis are prevalent with
500 cases of illness a day
● overcrowding (1 million people living in 1 mile square)
● strained resources (e.g. water rationed for only two hours per day)
● working conditions, hours and wages are extremely poor with many
people working for only $1 a day and sleeping in the factories
Sabarmati Riverfront Development

The Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project is an environmental improvement, social uplift and urban rejuvenation project that will renew Ahmedabad. The project is being developed by
the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Ltd. (SRFDCL), a company wholly owned by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.
The project will reclaim approximately 200 hectares of land from the riverbed. To reclaim the land, protect low lying developments from floods, and to prevent erosion of the river banks,
retaining walls have been built on both sides of the river. Since Sabarmati is a seasonal river, water is channeled into the river from Narmada canal, which intersects the river upstream
from Ahmedabad and is retained in the river using the Vasna Barrage which is located downstream. To prevent untreated sewage from flowing into the river, two sewage interceptor lines
with new pumping stations have been constructed along both the reclaimed banks. These lines carry untreated sewage to the augmented sewage treatment plants south of Vasna
Barrage. Slum dwellers living on the riverbed, and affected by the project, will be relocated and provided with ‘pucca’ housing with secured tenure.
The reclaimed land will make Ahmedabad’s riverfront, a public asset. For better access to the riverfront and facilities built along it, a number of streets leading up to the river will be
strengthened. Many more will be added so that people can easily walk up to the river. The project will provide Ahmedabad with 11.5 km long pedestrian promenades at the water’s edge
along both the banks of the river. In addition to the promenade, many new parks and gardens will be built on the reclaimed land. Many new public facilities will be built on the reclaimed
land: cultural centers, museums, sports facilities, trade fair grounds and open air markets. A small portion of the reclaimed land will be sold for private commercial and residential
developments. The sale of the reclaimed land will finance the project.
River Promenade
Two-level, uninterrupted promenade at the edge along each bank
Lower-level: serve pedestrians and cyclists
Upper level: (ongoing) shall host a variety of city level public features

The key feature of this project is a two-level, continuous promenade at the water's edge along each bank of the river
The lower-level promenade is built just above the water level to serve pedestrians and cyclists, and to provide access to the water
The upper level promenade shall host a variety of public features at the city level. Together these provide Ahmedabad with an uninterrupted, pedestrian walkway,
nearly 11.5km in length, in the heart of the city
Length: 11.5km, Width: 6-18m

Facilities:
Staircases and ramps at regular intervals
Concrete paved flooring to support jogging/ cycling Continuous seating arrangement with protective railing
Security arrangements to handle entry-exit, emergencies
Access points from the city level via staircases and ramps at regular intervals and under every bridge
Ghats at key locations Boating facilities
Public washrooms
Concrete paved flooring Platforms at regular intervals for regulated and organized
Recognition and impacts
New cultural, trade, recreational and social institutions
Tourist attraction
Clean water & recharge of Ground water aquifers
Elimination of Flood Hazard
Vibrant and beautified urban neighborhoods
Hosts several national and international events
Other cities including Vadodara and Surat in Gujarat, Pune, Varanasi and Chennai propose to replicate the project

Criticisms
Less importance given to the ghetto beside the river. Only 4400 of 10000 displaced families
from 2006-2010 were relocated 2–3 km close to their present location.
Livelihood activities like urban farming and local laundries i.e. dhobi Ghats, etc. were undertaken.