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Search date: 21-06-2019 Return to current date: Click here

India’s slum dwellers fear redevelopment

June 21, 2019 00:00:00


MUMBAI, June 20 (AFP): Residents of Asia's most famous slum fear a multi-billion-dollar plan to transform the area into a Singapore-like enclave featuring luxury skyscrapers and shopping malls will destroy its vast informal economy.

Indian authorities have asked a developer to tear down and rebuild Dharavi, a bustling settlement in Mumbai known as the backdrop for Danny Boyle's hit 2008 movie "Slumdog Millionaire".

Supporters say the project will uplift hundreds of thousands of lives, but critics claim it will destroy Dharavi's social fabric and accuse officials of pandering to property developers.

"Dharavi is the beating heart of Mumbai… The government wants to grab it," says liquid soap manufacturer Ashraf Sheikh who recently went on an eight-day hunger strike over the redevelopment.


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