• Asia's largest slum, Dharavi, lies in the heart of India's financial capital, Mumbai (Bombay). Dharavi is located between Mumbai's 2 main suburban rail lines, most people find it useful for work, it is located 12km south-east of Juhu. Dharavi has a population of more than 600,000 people residing in 100,000 makeshift homes, and one of the world's highest population densities at more than 12,000 persons per acre.It is home to more than a million people. Many are second-generation residents, whose parents moved in years ago. 
• Today's Dharavi bears no resemblance to the fishing village it once was. A city within a city, it is one unending stretch of narrow dirty lanes, open sewers and cramped huts. In a city where house rents are among the highest in the world, Dharavi provides a cheap and affordable option to those who move to Mumbai to earn their living. 
• Rents here can be as low as 185 rupees ($4/£2.20) per month. As Dharavi is located between Mumbai's two main suburban rail lines, most people find it convenient for work. Even in the smallest of rooms, there is usually a cooking gas stove and continuous electricity. Although, it is very noisy, and about 10 to 15 people live in the same house !!!! and over 15,000 people use the same toilet everyday with no sewage systems !!!!

Dharavi Problems

• The Dharavi slums face a lot of problems like noise, water and air pollution, it also has no sewage or drainage systems. Everyday the potters brick kilns send huge black clouds into the air which pollutes the air and makes the cloud black and Sion hospital complains about the heavy black smoke that's making their patients case worse. Children play amongst sewage waste and doctors deal with 4,000 cases a day of diphtheria and typhoid.
• Next to the open sewers are water pipes, which can crack and take in sewage. Dharavi slum is based around this water pipe built on an old rubbish tip. The people have not planned this settlement and have no legal rights to the land. There are also toxic wastes in the slum including hugely dangerous heavy metals. 
• Dharavi is made up of 12 different neighborhoods and there are no maps or road signs. Those problems exist because those people aren't living on their own property and because it is a poor piece of land, so the government is trying to kick them out so that they can start a new project, this cause many problems and issues to the people such as poverty and hunger.

The Positives

 

• There are positives, informal shopping areas exist where it is possible to buy anything you might need.  There are also mosques catering for people's religious needs. There is a pottery area of Dharavi slum which has a community centre. 
• It was established by potters from Gujarat 70 years ago and has grown into a settlement of over 10,000 people.  It has a village feel despite its high population density and has a central social square. 85% of people have a job in the slum and work locally, and some of them even became millionaires. 
• Many daily chores are done in social spheres because people live close to one another. This helps to generate a sense of community. The buildings in this part of the slum are all of different heights and colors, adding interest.

 

The Recycling and Waste

 

• Kevin McCloud found that people seemed genuinely happy in the slum. However, toilets are open holes above a river – hardly hygienic. This could lead to Dengue fever, cholera and hepatitis. Dharavi has a recycling zone.  It is claimed that Dharavi’s recycling zone could be the way forward to a sustainable future.  Everything is recycled from cosmetics and plastics to computer keyboards.  23% of plastic waste gets recycled in the UK, in Mumbai it is 80%.  
• However, it is humans who work to sift the rubbish in the tips where children and women sift through the rubbish for valuable waste.  They have to work under the hot sun in appalling conditions.  They earn around a £1 a day for their work.  At the edge of the tip the rag dealers sort their haul before selling it on to dealers.  The quandary is that people have to work in poor conditions to recycle waste. From the tip it arrives in Dharavi where it is processed. 
• It is sorted into wire, electrical products, and plastics.   Plastics in India are continuously recycled.  People work in dangerous conditions with toxic substances without protective clothing, this could affect people's life expectancy.  Even dangerous hospital waste is recycled. 

 

The Future of the Dharavi Slums

 

• Mr. Mukesh Mehta is planning on building a $2billion development project which threatens the recycling district and part of Dharavi.  The land upon which Dharavi is built is next to Mumbai’s financial district.  This makes it a prime target for redevelopment.  The people who are relocated will be put into smaller housing in apartment blocks.  
• An ancient fishing village is also threatened.  These areas have strong safe neighbourhoods that have low crime and communal areas.   Also at risk are the local shops and markets and the community spirit which has taken generations to develop.  
• The locals would prefer small improvements to the existing slum such as improvements in drainage. The value of land is so high that redevelopment is now a real threat.  The alternative accommodation is very small.  
• The slum dwellers face 14 story apartments as accommodation as proposed by the cities Slum  Rehabilitation Authority.  This will separate communities and make people work away from where they live.  Only people who have lived in the slum since 2000 will be relocated.  Current redevelopment projects are densely populated and house lots of people.  They are not good for community cohesion.