🔗 Share this article

Across several weeks, intimidating phone calls persisted. Initially, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, and then from the police themselves. Ultimately, one resident states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many opposing a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be bulldozed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of Dharavi is exceptional in the planet," states the protester. "But they want to dismantle our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies 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 frequently missing basic amenities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the air is permeated by the overpowering odor of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or drainage and there are no spaces for children to play," says a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from his home state in that period. "The only way is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are fighting against the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need financial support and improvement. But they worry that this plan – without public consultation – might convert valuable urban land into an elite enclave, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have lived there since the late 1800s.

These were these marginalized, relocated individuals who established the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and commercial output, whose output is valued at between one million dollars and two million dollars per year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly one million people living in the dense 220-hectare neighborhood, a minority will be eligible for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is expected to take a significant period to finish. Additional residents will be relocated to barren areas and saline fields on the far outskirts of the metropolis, potentially break up a long-established social network. A portion will not get homes at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be provided flats in tower blocks, a major break from the natural, communal way of living and working that has sustained the community for so long.

Industries from garment work to clay work and waste processing are expected to reduce in scale and be relocated to an allocated "business area" separated from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of Shaikh, a leather artisan and long-time resident to call home this community, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-floor workshop creates garments – formal jackets, luxury coats, fashionable garments – sold in premium stores in south Mumbai and internationally.

Household members resides in the spaces underneath and employees and tailors – migrants from different regions – live in the same building, allowing him to sustain operations. Away from Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are often significantly costlier for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the government offices nearby, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting vision for the future. Well-groomed residents gather on cycles and electric vehicles, buying western-style bread and croissants and enlisting beverages on a patio outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This depicts a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains local residents.

"This is not development for our community," says the protester. "It represents a huge real estate deal that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

There is also distrust of the business conglomerate. Run by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a close ally of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it denies.

Even as the state government describes it as a joint project, the business group paid a significant amount for its majority share. Legal proceedings claiming that the initiative was improperly granted to the corporation is pending in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to actively protest the development, Shaikh and other residents state they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – involving communications, direct threats and insinuations that speaking against the development was comparable with opposing national interests – by individuals they assert are associated with the developer.

Part of the group suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c