New Delhi, May 17 (PTI) The Congress on Friday demanded answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on why the BJP is "sponsoring" industrialist Gautam Adani's Dharavi land redevelopment plan and asked why Mumbai has lost several big-ticket projects to Gujarat in the last few years.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also asked why the prime minister's roadshow in Mumbai was planned "callously and carelessly".
"Today’s questions for the outgoing PM's Mumbai visit: Why was the outgoing PM's Wednesday roadshow so callously and carelessly planned? Why is the BJP sponsoring Adani's Dharavi land-grab? Why was Mumbai made to lose so many big-ticket projects to Gujarat?" he asked in a post on X, ahead of Modi's Lok Sabha poll rally in the Mumbai (South Central) area on Friday evening.
Ramesh alleged that the "callousness and carelessness" displayed by the prime minister on Wednesday has angered thousands of Mumbaikars.
"First, in what was widely considered an extremely insensitive move, the outgoing PM decided to continue with his roadshow through Ghatkopar, the same neighbourhood that witnessed the tragic hoarding collapse just days before. People were still trapped under the hoarding when his roadshow passed through the neighbourhood.
"Second, the poor planning of this rally disrupted thousands of lives across the city, and even put many Mumbaikars in danger. Metro and train closures were announced just an hour before the event, leading to horrifying, stampede-like situations at metro and railway stations. Thousands of people were also forced to walk home as they were unable to plan for the closures. Why was the outgoing PM's roadshow so callously and carelessly executed? Will he apologise to the people of Mumbai?" the Congress leader asked.
He alleged that the Dharavi Redevelopment Project has turned into a "BJP-sponsored land grab for the outgoing PM's best friend, the Adani Group".
"The latest tender, floated by the Mahayuti government in September 2022, was allegedly geared specifically towards the Adani Group, the eventual winner. The structure of the Adani-led Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) established through this tender serve to completely alienate Dharavi's 7 lakh residents," he claimed.
The share of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority was reduced to 20 per cent, the ability of the residents to negotiate at the planning level was removed and the process of public debate and participation that had emerged from the start of the process was scrapped in its entirety, the Congress leader claimed.
"The new tender has also gifted the Adani Group an inordinate amount of valuable Transferable Development Rights (TDR) -- the original tender only awarded 5 crore square feet of TDR to the developer, but the Adani remaster has gifted the group a whopping 10.5 crore square feet," Ramesh said.
While only 54,461 slum inhabitants and 9,522 residents living in chawls and buildings will receive homes within Dharavi according to latest documents, "Adani is anticipating astronomical profits and a profit margin that could be as high as 434 per cent", he claimed.
Ramesh claimed that a November 2023 notification issued by the Maharashtra government provided numerous additional concessions to the Adani Group, including higher valuations for the Dharavi TDR and a rule that 40 per cent of all the TDR used in any construction project in the city must come from Dharavi.
"This lucrative 'revdi' for the Adani Group comes at the expense of millions of Mumbaikars, not just the residents of Dharavi. Does the PM have any defence for the massive loot that he is orchestrating in full public gaze?" he asked.
Ramesh also claimed that under the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) rule, many big-ticket projects that were best-suited to Mumbai's economy have been shifted to Gujarat. An International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) has been set up in Gujarat's GIFT City despite Mumbai being the country's financial capital for almost 200 years, he said.
In 2006, Ramesh said then prime minister Manmohan Singh had begun the effort to set up the IFSC in Mumbai and land was also set aside for the project in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), but it was later reallocated to the bullet train project.
"The outgoing PM's repeated refusal to set up the IFSC in Mumbai could end up costing the city up to 2 lakh jobs. Mumbai's diamond industry has faced a similar fate. Mumbai and Surat have worked together to develop India's diamond industry for decades, with Surat handling cutting and polishing, and Mumbai handling trading and export.
"However, the BJP and its puppet masters decided to build the new Bharat Diamond Bourse in Surat. It is another matter that this move has failed entirely, as many diamond merchants are moving their operations back to Mumbai. The Modi sarkar has unfortunately made a habit of picking favourites, and dishing out step-motherly treatment to other states. Why is the outgoing PM playing so cynically with the interests of Mumbaikars for his narrow political calculations?" the Congress leader asked.