Know more about Dharavi slum, now a tourist destination

New Delhi: Dharavi slum was founded in 1880s during the British colonial era. It is spread over 557 acres and houses nearly one million people. Dharavi remains unique among slums in Asia. It is a neighborhood smack in the heart of Mumbai. Dharavi became a tourist attraction after the success of the Oscar winning movie Slumdog Millionaire.Since then Dharavi draws countless visitors willing to “get the real taste of distress”.Dharavi is one unending stretch of narrow dirty lanes, open sewers and cramped huts and is considered a city within a city.Dharavi was earlier known as village of Koliwadas, as it was inhabited by a Koli fisherman during the early 19th century.Here one can find people from all over India.The slum has numerous mosques, temples and churches to serve people of Islam, Hindu and Christian faiths; with Badi Masjid, a mosque, as the oldest religious structure in Dharavi.About 33 per cent of the population of Dharavi is Muslim, compared to 13 per cent average population of Muslims in India.Dharavi provides a cheap and affordable option to those who move to Mumbai to earn their living. Rents here can be as low as 185 rupees per month.Dharavi has a large number of thriving small-scale industries that produce embroidered garments, export quality leather goods, pottery and plastic.Most of these products are made in tiny manufacturing units spread across the slum and are sold in domestic as well as international markets.The annual turnover of business here is estimated to be more than $650m (£350m) a year.Dharavi has severe problems with public health, due to scarcity of toilet facilities, due in turn to the fact that most housing and 90 per cent of the commercial units in Dharavi are illegal.It has faced many incidences of epidemics and other disasters. The first plague to devastate Dharavi, along with other settlements of Mumbai happened in 1896, when nearly half of the population perished.