Mumbai, Jun 8 (PTI) The Congress on Sunday staged a protest against the Maharashtra government’s decision to allot Mother Dairy’s land in Kurla for rehabilitating ineligible slum-dwellers who will be displaced by the Dharavi redevelopment project.

City Congress president Varsha Gaikwad, who led the demonstration, targeted the state government’s decision with a “surrender” barb, alleging that the opposition by local people was ignored.

“The market value of this land is in the hundreds of crores, but it is being handed over to Adani at a nominal price,” she alleged.

The Maharashtra cabinet last gave its nod to the revised terms and conditions for an 8.5-hectare plot of Mother Dairy in Kurla area meant to be used for rehabilitating ineligible slum-dwellers.

According to the government, under the Dharavi redevelopment project, 8.5 lakh families have to be rehabilitated. Of these families, 5 lakh are eligible to be rehabilitated in Dharavi itself. The Kurla plot is among the spaces that will be used to rehabilitate the remaining 3.5 lakh families, it said.

“Adani seems to suffer from an insatiable greed to grab all of Mumbai’s land, and the BJP government is handing over plots to him while ignoring local opposition. The Kurla dairy land, despite being environmentally sensitive, has been transferred solely at Adani’s request,” Gaikwad alleged.

Despite massive public opposition, the state government granted the land to Adani in a Cabinet decision. “This is a surrender government,” Gaikwad added.

She alleged that heavy police force was deployed to suppress the peaceful protest on Sunday.

“Modi-Adani & Co. are snatching away people’s rights and occupying land that belongs to Mumbaikars, while the government provides security to the looters and suppresses the people’s voice,” the Congress leader said.

She alleged that the government was using the Dharavi redevelopment project as a cover to hand over salt pan lands, Deonar, and Madh-Aksa land, totalling 541 acres, to Adani for free.

“Plans are also afoot to seize government land in Air India Colony, Bandra Reclamation, Behrampada, and Motilal Nagar without consulting the local population,” the Congress MP alleged.

According to Gaikwad, Kurla residents had been demanding a botanical garden on the land of Mother Dairy covered by thousands of century-old trees.

Gaikwad wondered if Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is the spokesperson of the Election Commission.

She was responding to a query on a newspaper article written by Fadnavis rebutting Rahul Gandhi’s claims on the fairness of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections.

“Why is Fadnavis answering the questions that Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi posed to the Election Commission? Is he the commission’s mouthpiece?” she asked. PTI MR NSK