Congress on the Dharavi Redevelopment Project: BJP Govt ‘Benefitting’ Adani with Another ‘Revdi’

On Friday, the Congress said that the BJP administration had loosened regulations for the Dharavi redevelopment project in Mumbai to the Adani Group’s advantage. The Maharashtra Urban Development Department, which had initially voiced reservations about easing the rules, “has been compelled to issue a notification that removes the provision of indexation in Dharavi’s real estate Transferable Development Rights (TDR) and made it mandatory for all Mumbai builders to buy the first 40 percent of their TDRs from Adani,” according to reports, according to Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh.

The value of TDRs that Adani and Adani alone would get from the Dharavi project will be significantly increased as a result, he said.

The Adani Group did not respond right away. The Congress leader made a statement claiming that on February 27 and April 23 of this year, the party had brought up the issue in its “Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun (HAHK) series.”

We questioned the prime minister on how the Adani Group, whose offer of just Rs 5,069 crore—a sum Rs 2,131 crore less than the winning bid in 2018—was permitted to win the Dharavi Redevelopment Project in 2022. And this came about after the exclusion of the first winning bidder,” he said.

According to Ramesh, TDR is a transferable credit that enables builders to get compensation in the form of additional building rights in other permitted locations if they agree to give up their rights to develop in sensitive regions for grounds pertaining to the environment, historical or cultural importance, or similar causes.

But he pointed out that the decision to do away with indexation implies that TDRs created in low-income neighborhoods like Dharavi may now be utilized to construct pricey real estate in upscale districts like Bandra, south Mumbai, and Juhu. He said, “It is anticipated that these policy changes will further drive up prices in Mumbai’s already expensive housing market.” “This single policy modification that exclusively benefits Adani is just another’revdi,’ or free gift, given to the prime minister’s preferred business group,” he alleged.

Is there any area of the economy that Modi and his allies have not turned into a Modi-made Monopoly (3M)? What is the nature of the BJP and Adani’s strong electoral bond? “The complete truth can only be revealed by a JPC,” Ramesh said in his statement. The Adani company has been the focus of the Congress, which has accused it of profiting from the BJP administration and demanded a JPC investigation into the claims made by the US research organization Hindenburg. The corporate giant has denied any misconduct on its side.

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