🔗 Share this article

For months, intimidating phone calls recurred. Initially, reportedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, and then from law enforcement directly. In the end, one resident states he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is among those fighting a expensive initiative where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces demolished and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of this area is exceptional in the globe," explains the protester. "However the plan aims to destroy our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that loom over the area. Homes are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and residences with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream come true.

"There's no proper healthcare, proper streets or water management and we have no places for youth to recreate," explains a chai seller, 56, who migrated from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

However, some, such as Shaikh, are opposing the plan.

All recognize that this community, long neglected as informal housing, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. Yet they worry that this initiative – absent of public consultation – is one that will convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, evicting the marginalized, working-class residents who have been there since generations ago.

These were these excluded, migrant workers who established the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and business activity, whose output is estimated at between $1m and $2m annually, making it a major informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately 1 million people living in the packed sprawling neighborhood, less than 50% will be qualified for new homes in the project, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Additional residents will be moved to wastelands and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the metropolis, risking divide a long-established neighborhood. A portion will receive no housing at all.

People eligible to continue living in the neighborhood will be provided apartments in high-rise buildings, a major break from the evolved, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has maintained the community for generations.

Industries from clothing production to ceramic crafts and waste processing are expected to shrink in number and be transferred to a designated "commercial zone" far from homes.

Existential Threat

In the case of Shaikh, a craftsman and long-time resident to reside in the slum, the project presents an existential threat. His rickety, three-storey operation makes leather coats – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – distributed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Household members resides in the spaces underneath and laborers and tailors – workers from different regions – reside on-site, allowing him to manage costs. Beyond the slum, Mumbai rents are frequently 10 times as high for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

At the administrative buildings in the vicinity, a visual representation of the transformation initiative illustrates a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed inhabitants move around on cycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring international baked goods and croissants and socializing on a patio adjacent to a restaurant and treat station. This represents a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This represents no progress for residents," states Shaikh. "It's a huge property transaction that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the corporate group. Managed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

While the state government labels it a partnership, the business group contributed $950m for its controlling interest. A lawsuit claiming that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the business group is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to vocally oppose the development, Shaikh and other residents state they have been faced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – comprising phone calls, direct threats and implications that opposing the initiative was equivalent to speaking against the country – by individuals they claim are associated with the corporate group.

Among those alleged to have issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c