The Chief Minister's Office of Maharashtra announced on Saturday, 6 June 2026 that a committee chaired by retired judge Justice Dilip Bhosale submitted the first interim report of the Religious Structure Committee for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at 10:30 am at Varsha Bungalow, Mumbai.

Context

The submission marks a formal milestone in the Dharavi Redevelopment Project's effort to address places of worship within the project's footprint. The committee, constituted under the chairmanship of Justice Dilip Bhosale — a retired judge of the Bombay High Court — was tasked with examining religious structures that fall within or adjacent to the redevelopment zone. The handover of the first interim report at Varsha Bungalow, the official residence of the Chief Minister, signals that the panel has completed an initial round of site assessments and deliberations.

Policy Backdrop

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project is one of India's most ambitious urban renewal initiatives, targeting the dense settlement in central Mumbai that is widely described as Asia's largest informal urban cluster. The project traces its origins to early-2000s state government plans under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority framework, and has undergone multiple tender revisions and administrative reviews across successive Maharashtra administrations.

Maharashtra governments have historically constituted judicially-led committees to resolve land-use disputes during large-scale slum redevelopment, particularly where places of worship are involved. Such mechanisms are designed to balance the competing claims of long-standing residents, religious communities and project developers, while keeping the state's urban renewal agenda on track.

Stakeholders and Impact

The Religious Structure Committee's work directly concerns Dharavi's diverse communities, whose mosques, temples, churches and dargahs are interspersed throughout the settlement. Any recommendations the committee makes on the treatment, relocation or preservation of these structures will have a direct bearing on community consent and the project's social acceptability. Developers and the state's urban planning machinery will be required to align their plans with the committee's eventual final findings.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has made urban infrastructure and Mumbai redevelopment a central plank of his administration, received the report personally — underscoring the political weight attached to resolving the religious-structures question before the project advances to its next phase.

What's Next

The committee's mandate envisages further rounds of review, making this first interim report one of several expected submissions. Observers will watch for subsequent interim reports, any statutory notifications altering project boundaries, and contract or tender milestones that the state may issue once the committee's recommendations are incorporated into the project's master plan. The pace at which the government acts on Justice Bhosale's findings is likely to set the tone for community negotiations and the broader redevelopment timeline in the months ahead.