Dharavi Redevelopment: No More Extensions for Residents Who Missed Survey As Deadline Ends

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) authorities have reiterated that there will be no more extensions to the deadline for slum inhabitants who did not participate in the household survey, as the deadline for submitting papers expired on April 15. The evaluation of the provided documentation will commence to validate the residents' eligibility, they stated. The Maharashtra government's Dharavi Redevelopment initiative (DRP) is the world's largest urban regeneration initiative, intending to eliminate slums in Mumbai.

Officials stated that they are making Draft Annexure-II, a key document containing tenements eligible for the survey. The DRP deputy collector in charge of the survey said that they are now reviewing documentation received from localities where surveys were performed. Those who did not cooperate will be labelled as 'papers not received' on the draft list.

Although there is no deadline for postponement for non-participants, the door-to-door survey will continue in some regions where structures have been numbered but individual home information has still to be collected. An official said this is a housing-for-all initiative. The goal is to have all eligible Dharavi residents included in the rebuilding plan. The government does not want anyone to be excluded, stated the officer. So far, the DRP has physically surveyed almost one lakh structures. Almost 94,500 have been assigned unique identification numbers, and over 89,000 have been digitally mapped using LiDAR technology. Surveys of homes were undertaken in around 70,000 tenements.

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The DRP authorities have made it clear that constructions without survey participation or official requests for inclusion will be considered unauthorised. Such tenements will be illegal and dealt with accordingly, they said. When the project enters its second phase, people who do not engage will miss out on the benefits of one of the most ambitious Mumbai housing programs.