The Congress will rework the Dharavi redevelopment plan, with residents getting 500 sq.ft. homes, if elected to power, the party’s Mumbai South Central candidate Eknath Gaikwad promised residents on Saturday.
Mr. Gaikwad, while speaking at an event attended by small-scale business owners and residents of Dharavi, also said that a Congress government will be friendly to all small- and medium-scale enterprises.
While the event was to commence at 7 p.m., Mr. Gaikwad arrived almost three hours late and gave a short speech promising to implement the Congress manifesto and to be more available than MP Rahul Shewale of the Shiv Sena.
“When we were planning the redevelopment, as a special case we got 300 sq.ft. homes for the people of Dharavi approved. The BJP-Sena objected to this and fed them pipe dreams of giving them 400 sq.ft. homes. No progress was made on this front, and the tender they recently floated is for homes of 300 sq.ft. We will create a new plan with 500 sq.ft. homes for everyone and I want to create a new city in Dharavi. In most slum rehabilitation projects, only buildings are constructed without any facilities,” Mr. Gaikwad said.
His daughter MLA Varsha Gaikwad, and MLA Naseem Khan arrived a little earlier and highlighted the extent of losses that small and medium businesses had to face due to the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation. They also said the upcoming elections were important to preserve the country’s constitutional values. “More than Mr. Gaikwad or the Congress being elected to power, it is important that the current Narendra Modi government falls. The very secular fabric of our nation depends on this,” Mr. Khan said.
Double whammy: traders
Several businessmen who attended the event highlighted how demonetisation and the implementation of the GST proved to be a double whammy for them. Dharavi has been home to small- and medium-scale enterprises in leather, garment and scrap plastic industries.
“Small businesses that used to employ two to three people have been completely finished. The ones who used to employ 50 now just have five to 10 people, as there has been a huge contraction in the entire ecosystem,” Rehan Sheikh, who runs a leather accessories manufacturing unit, said.
Business had barely recovered from the jolt of demonetisation, that the GST was implemented, traders and businessmen said.
“The GST was very poorly implemented and till today, several businesses don’t understand the workings of it. As a result of its poor implementation, only 35% of the business have survived,” Noor Ahmed, who runs a small garment manufacturing unit, said. Mr. Ahmed said following the contraction in business, skilled labour has left the city.
Shafad Khan, another garment manufacturer, said, “Earlier, if a worker went back to his village, he would come back with one or two more. Now, workers have left with no sign of them returning.”
The penalties associated with GST have dealt a crippling blow to their businesses, traders and manufacturers said.
“Under VAT, a person could easily pay their tax within three to four months of raising a bill. The government itself doesn’t know what GST it has introduced, and it has kept tinkering with it,” Karam Khan, a scrap plastic trader, said.
Mr. Sheikh said there should be one rate across all categories, as it simplifies the system of set-offs and does not unnecessarily burden smaller manufacturers.