A Promise of Dignity

LAST WEEK, at the behest of a friend who works in Dharavi, I spent substantial time there. Touted as Asia’s largest slum, nestling along the uber-chic Bandra Kurla Complex, this is hardly a sobriquet which should make either the Dharavi resident or, for that matter, the people who run Mumbai, proud.

Dharavi is a national shame. Not on the brave and resilient people who live there but on the people who governed Maharashtra for aeons. It is a shame that after all these years people live in squalor of the kind that would make you vomit. And would make you angry.

Fraudulent organisations, such as Dharavi Bachao Andolan, propped up by a politician-gangster nexus, now claim to be the guardian angels of this area. These people are the ones who have let Dharavi down and let our fellow citizens rot in a state of despair for almost a hundred years. The powers that be tendered the redevelopment of Dharavi four times before this present time, and all that happened was land grabbing and no development. The people are left in the lurch. Like almost everywhere in our fine country.

The first cries of redevelopment of Dharavi came from the likes of Rajiv Gandhi and Bal Thackeray. And irony has died many deaths with their successors in both Congress and Shiv Sena now wishing to destabilise its redevelopment.

On visiting Dharavi, I met people who came up to me to say that the media in this country needs to get involved. They were the ones who hailed Adani as a saviour, saying that the folks at the new developer Adani were the only ones who have promised a key-to-key programme for resettling. This in simple terms means people living in Dharavi will be resettled within Dharavi first before their dwellings are redeveloped: not moved to some remote location under the guise of resettlement. I was astounded to see the lack of every basic amenity. People were bathing, washing and cooking with the same water. There is no sewerage system in Dharavi; the lanes are so narrow that you have to walk in a single file. So, God forbid if there is a fire, no fire tender will be able to reach. This is the pitiable state of the inhabitants and all our politicians are interested in doing is playing petty politics.

The first cries of redevelopment of Dharavi came from the likes of Rajiv Gandhi and Bal Thackeray. And irony has died many deaths with their successors in Congress and Shiv Sena now wishing to destabilise its redevelopment

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One gentleman came up to me and said his grandfather lived in this squalor as did his parents, and now his children are living in it. Now, it is for his children he seeks a brighter future. I then went and saw the amazing crafts that Dharavi produces, not to mention the food processing units and the recycling facilities.

It may amaze you that the leather jackets of Dharavi would put Gucci to shame but then again, no one knows. I went and visited potters who have been doing business for over a century and their lament was while their work is world-class, no one wishes to come to Dharavi. Films like Slumdog Millionaire have done a huge disservice to Dharavi by glamourising the plight of ordinary men and women, and no one cares.

What are we coming to as a country? Where people are subjugated by denying them basic human conditions to live and work in? Why are our politicians still so heartless and, if one may add, so greedy?

I was told that the present developer won the bid in a global tender that was floated. So why do we wish to throw the baby out with the bathwater?

Our cities are wilting; urban spaces are either flooded or getting washed away and when we have the chance, we fritter it away for aeons.

And the powers that be must realise that they are not doing the people of Dharavi a favour. It is their right that has been snatched away from them for over a hundred years. Why do we tom-tom our economic prowess when lakhs live in the squalor that they do even to this day?

It is time even the courts stepped in. Justice is ultimately about fairness. For far too long we have treated Dharavi as an absent mother, not just a stepmother: that needs to change. The time is now.

About The Author

Suhel Seth

Suhel Seth is Managing Partner of Counselage India and can be reached at suhel@counselage.com

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