'Nothing has been transferred to Adani': Maharashtra Dy CM counters Aditya Thackeray, offers point-by-point rebuttal on Dharavi

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday hit back at Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena for its claim that the state was trying to hand over Mumbai city to the Adani Group. The Adani Group is developing Dharavi, the largest slum in the country, but Shiv Sena (UBT) has claimed that the state has favoured the group by tweaking the original tender conditions and giving him more land than what was due.    

Fadnavis rejected these claims and offered a point-by-point rebuttal to Sena. He said it was during his tenure as chief minister that the first tender for Dharavi was issued. "When their (MVA) government came to power, they canceled it. After canceling, they set new conditions. The new tender conditions were entirely decided by Uddhav Thackeray's cabinet," the deputy chief minister said while speaking at India Today Conclave Mumbai 2024.  

"The difference we made was that in the tender conditions finalised by Uddhavji's cabinet, there was no cap on the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR). This meant that whoever won the tender would practically become the owner of Mumbai, as they would control the entire TDR market in the city. We said this cannot happen. We imposed a cap," he said, adding that those making such accusations either don't understand the matter, haven't studied it, or are simply playing politics. 

Fadnavis slammed the opposition for saying the project would rehabilitate less than a lakh people when the actual population is about 2-3 lakh. He said when the MVA finalised the tender conditions, they had only accounted for the rehabilitation of 70,000 people — those on the ground floor. "When the issue came before us, we said that if you are only going to rehabilitate 60,000 families where there are 2-3 lakh families, and leave out the rest, this project will never happen." 

"Therefore, we decided that, within this project, those on the first floor, who were termed ineligible, and those who came after 2011 — all these people would be rehabilitated. Hence, the decision was made that all those people - eligible and uneligible - who could be accommodated would be accommodated there (in Dharavi). And for the rest (who can't be accommodated there), we came up with a solution — we will give them rental housing, which will be converted into ownership after 10 years," he said. 

On Wednesday, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray, while speaking at the India Today Conclave, targeted the state government, saying Mumbai will now have 20 other Dharavis coming up in Kurla, Mulund, Vadala - "Why should these people who have lived here worked here be sent to other lands?"

Thackeray also claimed that about Rs 5,000 crores is the premium that the BMC was supposed to get from Dharavi, which he said Adani has refused to pay.

Fadnavis, however, said that Adani has already deposited Rs 4,000 crore as a premium and the premium condition had never been removed. "The project was awarded to the highest bidder based on the premium. Out of the entire area, 18% will be allocated to roads, 17% to a green belt. In total, if we consider the entire area, about 45-50% will go to essential reservations."

"They (Shiv Sena) haven't studied this properly. They don't want the poor residents of Dharavi to get their homes. That’s why I ask them — when they organised a rally, how many people from Dharavi showed up? Why did they have to bring people from all over Mumbai, and even then, their rally only had 4,000 people? Because the people of Dharavi know that the rehabilitation is being done right, and they fully support it," the deputy chief minister stated. 

Fadnavis said the TDR granted by Uddhav Thackeray's cabinet had no cap. No cap means, he added, one can hoard it and increase its price. "Now, the price cannot exceed 90%. Otherwise, under the conditions set by Uddhavji’s government, the developer could have taken the price up to 200%." 

The BJP leader maintained that nothing has been given to Adani. He said the land has been handed over to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Authority (DRP), which is a government authority and the state holds a stake in it. "The government controls DRP. Nothing has been transferred to Adani. Everything is with DRP, and the government holds a stake in DRP. We control DRP."

Fadnavis also rejected the charge that now Adani officers will sit in the authoriy and have more powers to decide the development control rules. He suggested that there were no change and that the Uddhav Cabinet itself made the DRP the Development Control Authority. However, in DRP, he said, the power to control development lies with the Maharashtra government's principal secretary level officer, who is equivalent to the municipal commissioner of BMC. 

The deputy chief minister said that Mumbai has eight authorities, and each authority sets its own development control rules. "But any authority, including DRP, if they prepare development control rules, they don't have the power to... they have to send it to the government. If the government says their rules are correct and approves them, then they can go ahead. That’s why I said this narrative that Adani will control everything is false. The government will do what it has to. The government will act, and Adani will have to follow what the government decides. If they don't, their contract will be revoked."