Next: 46-acre mini-Dharavi up for redevelopment

Kamaraj Nagar, popularly known as mini-Dharavi, is set to become one of the biggest redevelopment projects in the city. The ownership of the 46-acre slum abutting the Eastern Express Highway in Ghatkopar (east) has changed hands and now lies with Champalal Vardhan of the Neelam Group.

Kamaraj Nagar marks the shift of focus from the western to the eastern suburbs on the redevelopment radar, and will be a realty bonanza for Vardhan. With a floor space index (FSI) of three for slum schemes, the developer will get approximately two crore sq ft (1.97 lakh sq mt) as developable space. While part of the land will be used to rehabilitate over 10,000 shanties free of cost in as many 269 sq ft flats, the balance will be available for the developer to sell in the open market. Since property prices in the area are currently pegged at over Rs7,500 a sq ft, property brokers believe the developer has struck a good deal.

Vardhan, also the owner of the controversial Atria mall at Worli, got the development rights from Sitaram Garodia, the land owner. Set
up in the early 1960s, the slum colony is named after the late Congress stalwart from Tamil Nadu, K Kamaraj, and is predominantly inhabited by south Indians who came to Mumbai to work as dock workers and scavengers. 

Confirming the project, Vardhan said he was planning a township in the area that would be available for free sale. He is implementing the scheme in phases. ``Slum schemes are a long-drawn process. It takes time to get various letters of consent and construct transit camps as alternative accommodation while the redevelopment work is on. Though we have the consent of 40% of the slum dwellers, the slum redevelopment authority has approved the first phase of five acres,’’ he said. The entire process in the first phase could take at least two years.

More on the anvil
The clamour for slum redevelopment is growing stronger. BJP legislator Prakash Mehta has recently asked the Congress-led state government to redevelop the three big slum colonies in Ghatkopar on lines of the Dharavi. Before the October state assembly elections, Mehta along with the federation of housing societies of slumdwellers from Ramabai Nagar, Nityanand Nagar and Kamaraj Nagar—predominantly Dalit, Muslim and south Indian localities respectively—had requested the government to allow the redevelopment of three colonies on the lines of Dharavi. The first of them, the Kamaraj Nagar slum, is off the blocks. The rest could follow in due course.