🔗 Share this article

For months, coercive communications persisted. At first, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, and then from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, one resident claims he was ordered to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is among those opposing a high-value redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be razed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is unparalleled in the world," states Shaikh. "However their intention is to destroy our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the neighborhood. Residences are constructed informally and typically missing basic amenities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

Among some individuals, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and residences with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or sewage systems and there are no spaces for children to play," explains a chai seller, 56, who relocated from his home state in that period. "The single option is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

However, some, such as the leather artisan, are fighting against the plan.

None deny that this community, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need economic input and modernization. Yet they are concerned that this initiative – without community input – might turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, evicting the lower-caste, working-class residents who have been there since the late 1800s.

It was these shunned, displaced people who built up the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of community resilience and business activity, whose production is estimated at between one million dollars and $2m annually, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly 1 million inhabitants living in the dense sprawling neighborhood, a minority will be qualified for new homes in the project, which is estimated to take a significant period to complete. Others will be transferred to wastelands and salt plains on the distant periphery of the city, potentially fragment a long-established community. Certain individuals will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be provided flats in tower blocks, a significant rupture from the evolved, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has sustained this area for many years.

Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and material recovery are likely to reduce in scale and be relocated to a specific "business area" separated from people's residences.

Existential Threat

For residents like the leather artisan, a workshop owner and long-time resident to call home this community, the plan presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-storey facility makes leather coats – tailored coats, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – distributed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

His family resides in the spaces underneath and his workers and garment workers – laborers from different regions – live there, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from this community, accommodation prices are typically 10 times more expensive for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the government offices close by, a visual representation of the transformation initiative shows a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed residents gather on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, buying western-style baguettes and pastries and having coffee on a patio adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and dessert parlor. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that supports local residents.

"This isn't progress for us," states Shaikh. "This constitutes an enormous real estate deal that will render it impossible for us to survive."

There is also concern of the development company. Headed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a supporter of the national leader – the conglomerate has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it denies.

While the state government describes it as a partnership, the developer invested nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit claiming that the project was improperly granted to the corporation is being considered in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to publicly resist the development, local opponents state they have been faced ongoing efforts of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and suggestions that speaking against the initiative was comparable with opposing national interests – by individuals they allege are associated with the developer.

Part of the group accused of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c