It’s not just Dharavi. For years, Mumbai’s poor have been banished to live near a garbage dump
Munni Shaikh and her sister live in a small room in Dharavi, one of the densest and largest slums in Asia.
In this poorly lit 100-square-foot room, they do thread-work to earn Rs 250 per day. Right outside their room is an open drain, where rats scurry. Last year, when Shaikh heard of plans to redevelop the slum, she was excited.
She submitted documents to government officials as proof of her residence. But now the 36-year-old Shaikh is worried.
Until the Dharavi redevelopment is complete – a process that could take decades – the Maharashtra government has decided to relocate residents to various neighbourhoods across Mumbai. A large section of residents, those who have been declared “ineligible” to receive new homes in Dharavi, will be permanently shifted to a massive landfill in Deonar, 12 km away.
Ineligible residents are those who either live on upper floors in Dharavi’s shanties or built their tenements after 2000.
Shaikh said she would rather live in her cramped room than be relocated to a place where she will struggle to earn a livelihood. But there is a greater reason not to go.
Her friend lives a kilometre away from the Deonar landfill and complains of breathing problems. Shaikh does not want to live the same life.
“Kachre mein...
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