Adani group, which last year won the bid for the ₹5,000-crore Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP), has denied the allegations of favoritism over the Maharashtra government’s latest Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) notification.
A section of the state opposition has accused the government of tweaking the TDR norms to allow the Adani group to maximize its profit. The company, in response to the accusation, called it a “malicious ploy” at the “request of certain vested interests”.
“The baseless and malicious allegations of ‘tweaking’ and amendments to suit selected bidders” do not do justice to the regulatory transparency of the process. Alleging favoritism of any kind is a malicious ploy to muddy the waters and divert attention from our goal of transformative urban governance,” a spokesperson for the DRP stated.
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The accusation was presented a day earlier by the MLA of the Congress of Dharavi, Varsha Gaikwad. She claimed that the government revised the norms to allow the use of TDR without indexation, and put in a rule that 40 percent of the TDR must be purchased from the DRP that was awarded to the Adani group.
Currently, only 10 percent of TDR generated in a project is allowed to be used in South Mumbai luxury real estate. The government has now removed the index that allows an equal amount of TDR to be used in other projects, The Hindustan Times reported November 17.
“This corrupt government has just given PM Modi’s closest friend Gautam Adani a Diwali gift. The Shinde government has gifted Mumbai’s real estate market to the Adani conglomerate. The notification proposes a mandatory for all real estate developments in Mumbai ( where TDR is acceptable) to purchase at least 40% of their TDR requirements at exorbitant rates from the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, where Adani Properties Pvt. Ltd. is the lead partner to facilitate Adani group’s takeover of Mumbai’s TDR market. in Indexing is also a special case. Isn’t that an unfair practice?” the newspaper quoted Gaikwad as saying.
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Adani group, in its statement released today, said the government resolution (GR) that removed the index and allowed DRP to sell TDR was issued before the project was awarded to it in November 2022. “At present, everything the government does. is currently announcing this as due process.”
“The GR issued before the start of the 2018 tender process had a provision for the sale of TDR generated by the DRP across Mumbai,” the spokesperson added.
In September 2022, another GR was issued to make certain revisions. “Contrary to the claim that these policy changes will benefit a single entity, the government’s final notification has, in fact, limited the minimum use of TDR in other projects to 40 percent instead of 50 percent, as mentioned in the Sept. 2022 GR,” the statement noted.
“It is unfortunate that some people are trying to manufacture controversy around the generation of TDR from the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP). We believe that this is being done at the deliberate request of certain vested interests who hope to derail or at least delay the long cherished dreams of the people of Dharavi for a better future,” Adani group further said.
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Updated: 18 Nov 2023, 16:09 IST
(tagsTo Translate)Adani group