🔗 Share this article

For months, coercive communications recurred. At first, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, subsequently from the police themselves. Ultimately, one resident asserts he was called to the police station and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is part of a group opposing a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be bulldozed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is like nowhere else in the globe," states the protester. "Yet the plan aims to destroy our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of this community present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and elite residences that loom over the neighborhood. Dwellings are constructed informally and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the environment is filled with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of premium apartments, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and residences with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream realized.

"There's no sufficient health services, proper streets or water management and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," states A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who migrated from southern India in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

But others, including the leather artisan, are resisting the project.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. Yet they worry that this plan – absent of community input – is one that will turn valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have been there since generations ago.

This involved these shunned, displaced people who developed the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and business activity, whose output is valued at between a significant amount and two million dollars per year, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Out of about 1 million residents living in the crowded 220-hectare area, less than 50% will be qualified for new homes in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to finish. Others will be transferred to wastelands and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the city, potentially break up a generations-old social network. Some will receive no residences at all.

Those allowed to remain in the neighborhood will be provided units in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the organic, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has supported this area for many years.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and material recovery are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to an allocated "industrial sector" far from homes.

Existential Threat

In the case of this protester, a craftsman and third generation inhabitant to call home this community, the project presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-floor workshop makes garments – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – sold in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives lives in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and garment workers – laborers from other states – live on-site, permitting him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, housing costs are typically significantly more expensive for a single room.

Threats and Warning

In the administrative buildings in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the transformation initiative depicts an alternative outlook. Slickly dressed people gather on cycles and e-vehicles, buying continental bread and croissants and having coffee on a terrace adjacent to a coffee shop and treat station. It is a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that supports Dharavi's community.

"This represents no progress for us," states the protester. "It's a huge real estate deal that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the development company. Managed by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a close ally of the government head – the corporation has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

Although administrative bodies describes it as a collaborative effort, the corporation contributed $950m for its majority share. A lawsuit stating that the project was unfairly awarded to the developer is under review in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to actively protest the project, local opponents state they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving communications, direct threats and insinuations that criticizing the project was tantamount to speaking against the country – by figures they claim are associated with the corporate group.

Among those suspected of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c