The Dharavi Redevelopment Project in Mumbai on Saturday denied allegations that the Maharashtra government relaxed norms to favour the Adani Group, PTI reported.

The project is being carried out through a special purpose vehicle, in which the Adani Group holds 80% stake and the Maharashtra government holds the remaining 20%.

On November 16, the Hindustan Times reported that the Maharashtra government had issued a notification altering Mumbai’s Development Control Regulations to allow the use of Transferable Development Rights without an indexation.

Transferable Development Rights, or TDR, is a method by which the development potential of a parcel of land can be separated from it and used elsewhere. This enables a developer to construct buildings above the usual floor space index available for an area.

The Maharashtra government’s notification reportedly gives more value to the Adani Group from the TDR generated from the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. It also mandates builders in Mumbai to buy the initial 40% of their required TDR from the project, thus essentially creating an entirely new source of revenue for the Adani Group.

On the report, the Congress’ Mumbai president Varsha Gaikwad had alleged that the Maharashtra government had awarded the redevelopment project to the Adani Group as a “Diwali gift”.

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project said on Saturday that some people were “attempting to manufacture a controversy” around TDR generation. It termed allegations that norms were tweaked to suit select select bidders as “malicious and baseless”.

“We believe this is being done at the deliberate behest of certain vested interests who hope to derail or, at least delay, the long cherished dreams of Dharavi’s people for a better future,” it said, reported PTI.

The project said that the generation of TDR within the Dharavi Notified Area was first allowed by the Maharashtra government in 2018, and later in 2022, before the project was awarded “through open and fair competition”.

It added: “All that the government is doing is currently notifying this as a due process.”

Adani Realty won the Dharavi Redevelopment Project tender floated by the Maharashtra Cabinet in December 2022 with a bid of Rs 5,069 crore. Its closest competitor, the DLF group, had submitted a much lower bid of Rs 2,025 crore.

The project will entail rehabilitating 6.5 lakh slum residents who currently live in an area spread over 2.5 square kilometres. It will involve redeveloping buildings and informal tenements as well as developing infrastructure such as water supply and sewage in Dharavi, considered to be among the world’s largest slums.