Dharavi may itself account for no more than 1.5 lakh voters, but other slums in the constituency too are keenly watching the progress of what is labelled a model project that could be replicated.

Transportation and infrastructure projects are the other major issue driving voters, key among them being the simultaneous construction of several flyovers along the arterial Dr Ambedkar Road, the monorail that will pass through Wadala to Chembur and a set of skywalks that many don’t want. Middle-class commuters, weary of long traffic jams and the rather weak harbour line of Central Railway, want to know precisely what the monorail will offer. “But the MMRDA and the contractor have been showing us different plans,” complains Sharad Kumar. “There is no transparency on skywalks either.”

If there’s one other issue that has been in the news as consistently as the redevelopment of slums, it’s pollution. From industrial pollution caused by the chemical units in Chembur to the Deonar dumping ground that’s located closer to habitation than permissible anywhere in the developed world and from a Chembur group’s public interest litigation against the health hazards created by the dumping ground to environmentalists’ despair at the dangers posed to the fragile ecosystem of the Mahul creek, the ambient air quality is a complaint in most parts of this seat.

“The pollution from the RCF area is felt as far as Anushakti Nagar,” says Sharad Kumar, a Wadala resident and trustee of Action for Good Governance and Networking In India (AGNI).

... contd.