🔗 Share this article

For months, intimidating messages persisted. Originally, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, and then from law enforcement directly. In the end, one resident claims he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is part of a group fighting a multimillion-dollar project where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – will be razed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of the slum is unparalleled in the planet," says the resident. "However their intention is to dismantle our way of life and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of the slum present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and elite residences that dominate the neighborhood. Residences are built haphazardly and often lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the environment is permeated by the overpowering odor of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and homes with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"We don't have proper healthcare, paved pathways or water management and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, 56, who migrated from southern India in that period. "The single option is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

But others, such as the leather artisan, are resisting the redevelopment.

None deny that this community, historically ignored as informal housing, is desperately requiring investment and development. But they worry that this initiative – absent of community input – is one that will turn premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the marginalized, working-class residents who have been there since the nineteenth century.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who established the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of community resilience and business activity, whose economic value is valued at between a significant amount and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly a million people living in the packed 220-hectare area, a minority will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is projected to take a significant period to finish. Others will be transferred to wastelands and saline fields on the remote edges of Mumbai, potentially fragment a long-established community. Certain individuals will not get housing at all.

Those allowed to remain in Dharavi will be provided units in multi-story structures, a major break from the evolved, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has supported this area for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are expected to shrink in number and be transferred to a designated "commercial zone" far from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of the leather artisan, a workshop owner and third generation of his family to call home Dharavi, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His rickety, three-storey facility produces leather coats – sharp blazers, luxury coats, fashionable garments – marketed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Household members resides in the rooms underneath and employees and sewers – migrants from other states – reside on-site, permitting him to afford their labour. Outside the slum, Mumbai rents are typically significantly costlier for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the government offices in the vicinity, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan illustrates an alternative outlook. Slickly dressed residents move around on cycles and eco-friendly transport, purchasing continental bread and pastries and enlisting beverages on a patio near a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that sustains local residents.

"This represents no progress for our community," says Shaikh. "It represents a massive land development that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the corporate group. Run by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Although the state government describes it as a collaborative effort, the corporation contributed a significant amount for its 80% stake. A case claiming that the project was improperly granted to the business group is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the development, local opponents claim they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving communications, direct threats and implications that speaking against the project was comparable with speaking against the country – by people they allege represent the corporate group.

Included in these accused of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c