Railways to lease 45 acres for Dharavi redevelopment

Maharashtra government will share profits from the project; rail staff to get new quarters

Set to change: The 45-acre plot is spread across two land parcels, of which 28.56 acres comes under the Central Railway, and 16.44 acres under the Western Railway.

The Railways will lease out 45 acres of prime land to the State government for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP), and will receive a portion of the government’s profits and new quarters for their staff in return.

This was part of an agreement signed between the State government and the Union Ministry for Railways in New Delhi on Monday.

The Railways will lease the land through the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA), an arm of the Indian Railways. RLDA will enter into an agreement with the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority to lease the land for 99 years.

S.V.R Srinivas, principal secretary, DRP, termed the agreement a win-win prospect for the State government and the Railways.

₹200 cr. to be disbursed

The Railways will get ₹1,000 crore up front for the land, out of which ₹200 crore will be disbursed in the next six months. They will also get a share of the net profit that the State government makes from the project.

Explaining the modalities of the agreement, Mr. Srinivas said, “The profit ratio is pegged to their share of land. Their share of profits will be double that of their share of land in the project.”

Crucially, the Railways will get new quarters for their staff and encroachments on railway land will also be rehabilitated as part of the project, he said. The DRP will get large parcel of land for in-situ rehabilitation, which is one of the key hurdles of the project.

The 45-acre plot is spread across two land parcels, of which 28.56 acres comes under the Central Railway’s (CR) jurisdiction, while 16.44 acres comes under Western Railway (WR). There are several staff quarters, sports facilities, and administrative offices on the land parcels.

According to officials, around 5 acres would be sufficient to rehabilitate the Railway staff, opening up around 40 acres for the project. The land parcels lie between Dadar and Mahim on the WR and Dadar and Sion on the CR. Railway land between Mahim and Wadala stations on the Harbour line have also been included.

“The project will give an opening across the country to those people who are compelled to live in slums and are deprived of facilities for many years,” Union Minister for Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal said, in his address to the media in New Delhi. “The DRP will be a living example of concerted efforts of Indian Railways, the Indian government and the Maharashtra government.”.

The Railway minister said the existing facilities on the land like railway quarters, which are 50 or 60 years old and in a dilapidated condition, will be improved under the redevelopment project and the encroachments nearby (3,000 slums) on Railway land will be allotted houses under the Slum Rehabilitation Policy scheme. The area will be developed with modern facilities through the DRP, he said.