Dharavi redevelopment: Maha govt to lease salt pan lands from Centre

The Maharashtra cabinet on Monday cleared a proposal related to the Dharavi slum redevelopment project, under which 283.40 acres of salt pan lands in Mumbai will be taken from the Union government on a 99-year lease for rehabilitation purpose.

The proposal, moved by the state housing department, was approved at a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde here, an official statement said.

A separate proposal for handing over the salt pan lands, to be used for rehabilitation of some

Dharavi residents under the slum redevelopment project, will be submitted to the Union government soon, it said.

The market value of the lands, 283.40 acres in total, would be recovered from the special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed for redevelopment of the Dharavi slum colony and then handed over to the Centre, said the statement.

The Maharashtra government in July last year formally awarded the 259-hectare Dharavi redevelopment project to an Adani group firm. The multi-crore project, to be executed by an SPV, involves rebuilding the Dharavi slum sprawl, Asia's largest, in central Mumbai.