Dharavi — a Billion Dollar Economy
On 9th April 2020, TOI reported “Dharavi confirms a total of 17 cases and 3 fatalities”
But this news, all of a sudden or maybe even before resulted in several actions and many news channels calling up Mr. Rajesh Tope (Health minister of Maharashtra ) and repeatedly asking the same question:” How confident are you to fight back when 17 positive cases are reported at …….”
We all are still witnessing the tension that came up in the city….
Quick decisions were taken, police personnel called, and hawkers and sellers were banned all at once.
Why were they all overreacting, it is just 17 cases and 3 fatalities…..
Excuse me!!!!!!
It is not the numbers which are haunting everyone, but the name “Dharavi”
Not because of any underworld don, but just because of the fact that Dharavi is Asia’s largest slum and maybe it is the world’s largest as well.
When we say large, we should also realize that Dharavi has a major role to play when the world calls Mumbai as the global slum capital. There are some estimates which state that in Dharavi 1 million people are living within 1 square mile area. And recently some medias also reported that 15 people live in a 10*10 sq.ft. home(can we anymore call it a home).
At least now we should be able to understand the meaning of all the worry and tension with 17 cases in Dharavi.
When tracing, testing and treatment are the only mantras to fight COVID 19, how can an authority implement anything, where even social distancing is unthinkable.
To add oil to this burning fire, we also had to see, stone-pelting on cops at Dharavi, for asking the dwellers to stay indoors.
This reminds of a vlog by some foreigner, because to all those wanderlust out there “slums are a world of their own, and it is that which has to be discovered”
Yes, it was some curious heart who reported the story of Dharavi right from its birth.
The area was initially a mangrove swamp inhabited by Koli fishermen. Then the slum was established in 1882 during the British colonial era and it grew due to the expulsion by the colonial government.
The initial residents apart from the Koli fishermen were Kumbharwada — those who were involved in the special artwork on pots and diyas.
Later, people from different geographical locations migrated. And finally resulting in the present Dharavi which consists of 5 sectors all scattered around 600 acres, with no single caste or community.
It has everyone inside, majorly Dalit class and Tamil communities, but one thing which is unison is all are daily wagers.
Presently, it is an unplanned area that consists of residents, shops, commercial — small, medium, and a few big industrial units.
With everyone and everything inside- it has turned out to be a major manufacturing hub of leather, pottery and many other articles big and small.
It has the biggest floor space index and as we know with every big problem lies a big solution. Here as well, lies the greatest opportunity of redevelopment.
Of all, the interesting fact is that Dharavi has itself specialized in the textile business, color, and dying work, small manufacturing, recycling, and its trademark pottery business.
Adding, the slum gained more popularity after the shoot of Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire”.
One of those tourists spoke, “this is a place where one could see an industry in motion and the very weird but impressive part is no one is sitting around feeling sorry for themselves.
Either building walls or digging drains, or maybe collecting plastics, paper, and metal to take them to the recycling plants.
You know, this area is full of life with a beating heart of industry with people claiming out a meager existence in a way they can”
Yes, life is hard there, but they all just got on with it. And one must have not noticed, “there are no fines because, people can’t pay”
With so huge a population and even bigger congestion, the problems they face are also huge. In the whole area, there are no toilets, and the entire slum depends completely on the municipal toilets.
The recent report shows that one toilet seat is being used by 100–200 people a day and remember we can’t even imagine home isolation, which is being implemented very well in many other places.
Though Dharavi would have a billion-dollar economy with over 15,000 factories that export its products over the world. None of it is legal, taxed or even regulated.
Moving of the dwellers also poses a huge challenge to the authorities, where, around 60% of families have been living in the slum for more than 60 years, a major reason being, it provides cheap and affordable housing.
The irony is that Dharavi is located in Mumbai which is one of the world’s most expensive cities.
Under a very stressful situation, we might find door to door screening as the only option left out.
But the question here is, do we know the health condition of at least 10% of the slum population.
Being exposed to the drainage right from birth, being trained to starve for 2 days a week or being expected to work under any environment from the day you are responsible to fill your own tummy….
