🔗 Share this article

For months, coercive communications recurred. At first, allegedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, later from the authorities. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was ordered to the police station and warned explicitly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is among those opposing a high-value initiative where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – will be demolished and modernized by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of the slum is unparalleled in the planet," explains the protester. "But they want to destroy our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the settlement. Homes are built haphazardly and frequently missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is filled with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and homes with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or drainage and there's nowhere for children to play," states a tea vendor, fifty-six, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

However, some, like the leather artisan, are opposing the redevelopment.

All recognize that the slum, historically ignored as informal housing, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. But they are concerned that this initiative – absent of resident participation – could potentially convert valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, displacing the lower-caste, migrant communities who have been there since the late 1800s.

This involved these excluded, displaced people who built up the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of community resilience and economic productivity, whose economic value is worth between one million dollars and $2m per year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly 1 million residents living in the crowded 220-hectare neighborhood, a minority will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to complete. Others will be moved to barren areas and saline fields on the distant periphery of the city, threatening to break up a long-established community. A portion will be denied residences at all.

Those allowed to stay in the area will be given units in high-rise buildings, a major break from the natural, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has supported Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are expected to decrease in quantity and be relocated to a designated "business area" distant from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like this protester, a workshop owner and third generation resident to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, multi-level facility creates leather coats – sharp blazers, suede trenches, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives lives in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and garment workers – laborers from different regions – also sleep in the same building, allowing him to manage costs. Away from the slum, Mumbai rents are frequently tenfold more expensive for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the government offices in the vicinity, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan depicts a contrasting perspective. Well-groomed people mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, acquiring international baked goods and croissants and socializing on an outdoor area outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This depicts a world away from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

"This isn't progress for our community," states the artisan. "It represents a massive property transaction that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the development company. Managed by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the business group has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it denies.

Although local authorities calls it a partnership, the corporation contributed $950m for its 80% stake. A lawsuit alleging that the initiative was improperly granted to the corporation is pending in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to publicly resist the redevelopment, protesters and community members claim they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – comprising communications, clear intimidation and implications that criticizing the project was equivalent to opposing national interests – by people they claim represent the corporate group.

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