The Adani Group's data collection survey in Mumbai's Dharavi, which is set to start next week, will involve the collection of biometric details, videography and documents of proof that will be verified and returned to the people, a top official said.
"The entire system will be electronic to make it foolproof," SVR Srinivas, chief executive officer of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt., told NDTV Profit.
The survey of lakhs of informal tenement residents of Dharavi is being done to determine the rehabilitation eligibility criteria under the proposed redevelopment project.
The first phase of the survey will be a pilot and the whole exercise is expected to be completed in the next six to seven months, Srinivas said. He reiterated that eligibility will be decided by the government only.
"The survey team will have a mobile app where the data will be fed, which will be connected to a central server for daily monitoring. It will also have a digital grievance redressal system," he said.
The survey will commence in Kamla Raman Nagar, the company said on Monday. A unique number will be given to each informal tenement, followed by laser mapping of the respective lane. A trained team will visit every tenement with an indigenously developed application to scan documents.
Under the redevelopment project, every informal tenement holder and qualified ineligible tenement holder will get a home. As per the DRP tender, all eligible and ineligible resident tenement holders will get a flat with an independent kitchen and toilet.
Eligible industrial and commercial units in redeveloped Dharavi will receive a five-year holiday in the state goods and services tax. This will help promote and formalise their businesses, according to the tender.
The Adani Group won the bid to redevelop Dharavi in November 2022.
Watch The Interview here
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Edited Excerpts From The Interview:
Sir, the survey is going to take place from March 18. How exactly is the survey going to happen? What are you planning to achieve from the process?
SVR Srinivas: This is basically to determine who is eligible for resettlement and rehabilitation.
Secondly, it will entail a household survey. So the teams will go from house to house and biometrics will be done, fingerprinting and videography will also be done. And the Dharavi residents will show documents of proof, of evidence, to the team. The documents will be given back to them then and there after copying. The entire system will be electronic, not manual, so that it will be foolproof.
Finally, this is very important. The survey will be not just for residences alone. It will also include a survey of commercial structures like factories, shops, businesses, and not just that. In fact, it will also be done of the community structures. So there will be 3-4 categories. One is residence, which are residential in nature. Second is commercial and industrial and third is community structures. So a whole hog survey will be done, a very comprehensive survey it will be.
How long would the survey process take? Any sort of timeline in mind?
SVR Srinivas: We are starting it next week. And initially, we are starting in one small area, in the railway land but that will be a pilot. And if necessary, we'll do some adjustments and that will be continued in rest of Dharavi. I expect it to take about 6-7 months.
The government is going to be deciding the process and who will be eligible for the survey. So if you could help us understand once the survey happens, how will the government be going ahead with the whole eligibility criteria?
SVR Srinivas: First, let me make it clear that the entire process will be regulated by the government and overseen by the government. In this case, the Dharavi Redevelopment Project office and the eligibility—whether the person is eligible or not—will also be decided by the government, not by any other agency. Only thing is we'll be using some private agencies to do the survey because we don't have so much staff. That much is only outsourced, but the decision is all with the government.
And secondly, in this context, I would like to reiterate again what I had said earlier, elsewhere. This is the only project of its kind in India, where for the first time all the residents will be rehabilitated, irrespective of whether they are eligible or not, with subject to certain conditions, of course. And those who are eligible will be given in C2 and those who are not will be given hire-purchase based rental accommodation. In the other SRA schemes it is not so. So, this is a first towards that direction. And the fact is that, as all of us know, it has been in the offing for more than two decades. So, this is a huge step and hopefully in the right direction.
Sir, the project and the concept has been there for past two decades. After the survey and also when you decide the eligibility criteria, do you have any sort of timeline in mind? How long would it take for the entire process to happen?
SVR Srinivas: See this criteria is already fixed for eligibility. We are only going to see the individuals, whether they are particularly eligible for regular accommodation or rental housing. That is the only difference. Even rental housing also as I said it can be purchased on a hire-purchase basis. That's one part.
For the survey, we're anticipating 6-8 months, but for the construction to happen—for the rehab part—we had said that it should be completed in about seven years. So that will be very challenging, I understand. But given the timelines that we have, given the complexity that we have, we can't promise that in 3-4 years because that will not be correct.
At the same time, we can't say this project will go on endlessly for 20 years and then only be rehabilitated because as Keynes has said in the long run we're all dead. So we'll come up with this via media. That will be about seven years for rehabilitation.
Sir, this whole idea of digital Dharavi and you mentioned how it will be all done online, how will that happen? Is there some sort of app that's been developed? How are you going to track the whole process of survey?
SVR Srinivas: Two things. One is that the teams will carry a mobile app. There is an app. So, the data will be fed in and it will be connected to the central server. The government can easily monitor on a daily basis what's happening.
At the same time, there is also a grievance mechanism. So we're trying to have a single-window grievance mechanism. There will also be a kiosk, whereby a toll-free number is given. And they can always lodge grievances if there are any. If somebody feels that his name is omitted, or he's eligible, or he feels that he is eligible, any sort of grievence. That mechanism is also being put in place. And I think, the digitisation will help us help the residents also to make it frictionless, as much as possible.
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