Favouritism allegations are an attempt to delay Dharavi project: DRP

The Adani Group-led Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) on Saturday refuted allegations of favoritism in the matter.

In a statement, DRP, which also has the Maharashtra government as a stakeholder, said “vested interests” are trying to derail or delay the project with a revenue potential of Rs 20,000 crore.

The Opposition Congress had on Friday alleged that the BJP government is ‘favoring’ the Adani Group by relaxing norms for the Dharavi redevelopment project in Mumbai.

Its general secretary Jairam Ramesh raised an allegation that the Maharashtra Urban Development Department, which had originally expressed reservations about relaxing the rules, “is forced to issue a notification removing the provision of indexation in Dharavi’s real estate transferable development rights (TDR). , and made it mandatory for all builders in Mumbai to buy the first 40 percent of their TDRs from Adani.”

The DRP statement called the attempts to “create a controversy” around the TDR generation “unfortunate”.

It claimed that generation of TDR within the Dharavi Notified Area (DNA) was allowed as the Government Resolution (GR) of 2018, amended to the GR of 2022, recalled that both developments took place before the tender for the redevelopment was issued in 2022. .

The Maharashtra government is currently filing reports only following due procedure, the statement said.

It also said that a GR issued before the start of the 2018 tender process had a provision for sale of TDR generated from the Mumbai DRP.

“Contrary to the claim that these policy changes will benefit a single entity, the government’s final notification has actually limited the minimum use of TDR in other projects to 40 percent instead of 50 percent as stated in the September GR 2022,” the statement said.

Moreover, the government notification dated November 7 also imposes a ceiling on the pricing of TDR, contrary to the earlier position that there is no cap on the retail price of the TDR generated from the DNA, it added.

It pointed out that the government has now limited the maximum selling price of TDR to 90 percent of the rate for receiving plots to prevent arbitrary pricing of TDR, and has also included a provision for a portal to be managed by the civic body , will be managed. have details about the TDR generated from the project.

“Accusing favoritism of any kind is a mischievous ploy to muddy the waters and divert attention from our goal of transformational city management,” the report said.

It termed allegations of adjustments and changes to suit selected bidders as baseless and malicious.

The Congress had claimed that through the recent adjustments, the government had in fact significantly increased the value of the TDRs accruing to “Adani and Adani alone from the Dharavi project”.

Recalling earlier questions from his party, Ramesh said, “We have asked the Prime Minister questions about how the Adani Group was allowed to bag the Dharavi Redevelopment Project in 2022 with a bid of just Rs 5,069 crore, Rs 2,131 crore lower than the bid of Rs 5,069 crore . original winning bid in 2018. And this was after the original winning bidder was excluded.”

Ramesh said TDR is a transferable credit under which builders who agree to give up their construction rights in sensitive areas for reasons related to environment, historical or cultural significance or similar reasons can be compensated with additional construction rights in other approved areas.

However, he said the decision to do away with indexation means that TDRs generated in low-cost areas such as Dharavi can be used to develop expensive real estate in premium locations such as Bandra, South Mumbai and Juhu.

The Congress has targeted the Adani group, accusing it of benefiting the BJP government and demanded a JPC probe into the allegations leveled by an American research group Hindenburg.

The business conglomerate has denied any wrongdoing on its part.