🔗 Share this article

Across several weeks, intimidating messages continued. At first, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, and then from law enforcement directly. In the end, one resident asserts he was ordered to the police station and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is among those resisting a expensive initiative where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces demolished and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of this area is like nowhere else in the planet," explains the resident. "However their intention is to dismantle our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that loom over the area. Dwellings are constructed informally and typically lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and homes with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future come true.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or sewage systems and there's nowhere for children to play," explains a tea vendor, in his fifties, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The single option is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

However, some, such as Shaikh, are fighting against the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. However they fear that this project – without resident participation – could potentially transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, displacing the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

This involved these marginalized, relocated individuals who built up the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and economic productivity, whose economic value is valued at between $1m and $2m per year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately 1 million people living in the dense sprawling zone, less than 50% will be qualified for new homes in the project, which is estimated to take a significant period to finish. The remainder will be moved to barren areas and coastal regions on the distant periphery of Mumbai, risking divide a long-established community. Certain individuals will be denied homes at all.

Those allowed to remain in the area will be allocated flats in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the natural, communal way of residing and operating that has supported Dharavi for generations.

Industries from clothing production to clay work and material recovery are projected to reduce in scale and be relocated to a specific "commercial zone" far from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation resident to live in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level operation produces garments – sharp blazers, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the accommodations downstairs and laborers and sewers – migrants from other states – reside on-site, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from this community, accommodation prices are typically significantly as high for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the government offices close by, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan depicts a contrasting perspective. Well-groomed residents move around on cycles and electric vehicles, purchasing western-style baked goods and croissants and socializing on a patio outside Dharavi Cafe and dessert parlor. It is a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

"This represents no development for our community," explains Shaikh. "It represents a massive land development that will price people out for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists concern of the development company. Run by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the government head – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Even as local authorities labels it a collaborative effort, the business group contributed a significant amount for its majority share. A case claiming that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the business group is being considered in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been faced an extended period of coercion and warning – including phone calls, clear intimidation and suggestions that criticizing the initiative was equivalent to speaking against the country – by individuals they allege are associated with the corporate group.

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