Congress red-flags Fadnavis nod to Dharavi redevelopment project, claims Adani Group 'got a sweet deal'

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Saturday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the approval given by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the last day of his tenure as the state housing department minister to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. The state government will execute the project in partnership with the Adani Group. Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader said this is 'yet another example of how PM Modi has reduced his state governments to ATM machines for his cronies'.

"After the original tender was cancelled due to a dispute, the Shinde-Fadnavis government performed amazing acrobatics to change the tender conditions to ensure that PM Modi's closest friend was the only feasible winner," Ramesh tweeted.

Ramesh tagged a lengthy post by four-time Dharavi MLA Prof Varsha Gaikwad, who said: "Ignoring widescale opposition & concerns regarding the financial integrity & stability of the Adani group and sidestepping serious questions over the transparency, fairness and the competitiveness of the tendering process, this 'Mitr' centric government is hell-bent on letting the crisis-hit conglomerate redevelop Dharavi, which happens to be the world's largest project of its kind. Dharavi is being made a scapegoat to benefit a 'struggling' friend of the BJP."

"We have been demanding that the government should withhold the work order and the issuance of the LOI & stay any further transaction on the project with the Adani group until its financial position is thoroughly reevaluated. However as has become the pattern across the country, the government has skirted these issues. But we shall not budge and continue asking questions," she added. 

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, too, took to Twitter to say, "Meet the new age slaves/gulams of an industrialist."

What is Dharavi Redevelopment Project?

Dharavi, situated in Mumbai, stands as the largest slum area in Asia. The project, which commenced in November of the previous year, was awarded to Adani Properties, with bidders such as DLF and Naman Developers also in the running. 

In 2018, a tender was floated for the Dharavi project, and Seclink Technology Corporation, based in Dubai, emerged as the highest bidder. However, the Dubai company filed a lawsuit when the Fadnavis-Shinde government initiated a fresh bidding process for the project, asserting that there was no definitive contract in place with them. 

The state government maintained that there was no conclusive agreement with the Dubai company. As part of the project, a total of 6.5 lakh slum dwellers will be provided rehabilitation measures.