Mumbai: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today (Jan 16, 2004) announced Rs 500 crore financial assistance towards developing Asia's biggest slum area - Dharavi - located in Central Mumbai.

Speaking after unveiling a statue of the Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji near the international airport, he said Dharavi had graduated from being a slum area towards becoming an economic hub housing small-scale units.