Dharavi, Asia's largest slum, has managed the raging SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, in the second and more lethal wave of the contagion.
Social distancing may be a pipe dream and home isolation impossible because of the cheek-by-jowl, unhygienic living conditions of the slum-dwellers — a majority of whom are economic migrants to Mumbai. But Dharavi has emerged as a role model that calls for emulation in India reeling under a devastating fresh spell of the raging viral outbreak.
Dharavi recorded only nine and eight cases on May 14 and 16, respectively, and has bucked the trend by reporting in single digits daily since then.
This is a far cry from Mumbaikars’ growing fear that the densely congested Dharavi would be one of the city's worst hotspots. Instead, it is continuing to show a marked decline in Covid-19 cases, unlike other parts of the teeming megapolis, which has an estimated population of over 15 million.
Iqbal Singh Chahal, Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Asia’s richest civic body, and Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, G (North) ward, deserve fulsome praise for the "Dharavi model".