🔗 Share this article

Over an extended period, intimidating phone calls continued. At first, reportedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, later from the authorities. Ultimately, a local artisan claims he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is among those resisting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be razed and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is like nowhere else in the globe," explains the protester. "However their intention is to dismantle our social fabric and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of this community sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the neighborhood. Homes are assembled randomly and often without proper sanitation, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of premium apartments, neat parks, modern retail complexes and homes with two toilets is an optimistic future achieved.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, roads or water management and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," explains a tea vendor, fifty-six, who migrated from his home state in the early eighties. "The single option is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, like Shaikh, are resisting the project.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need financial support and improvement. However they are concerned that this project – lacking community input – could potentially turn valuable urban land into a luxury development, evicting the marginalized, migrant communities who have lived there since generations ago.

These were these marginalized, displaced people who built up the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is valued at between $1m and two million dollars a year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million people living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer zone, less than 50% will be qualified for new homes in the development, which is estimated to take a significant period to accomplish. Additional residents will be moved to barren areas and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the city, potentially break up a long-established community. A portion will receive no residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the neighborhood will be provided flats in high-rise buildings, a major break from the organic, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has sustained this area for many years.

Industries from clothing production to clay work and waste processing are projected to shrink in number and be transferred to an allocated "commercial zone" separated from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of Shaikh, a leather artisan and third generation resident to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His rickety, multi-level workshop makes garments – tailored coats, luxury coats, fashionable garments – sold in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Household members dwells in the rooms downstairs and employees and garment workers – migrants from other states – reside in the same building, enabling him to sustain operations. Outside the slum, accommodation prices are often significantly as high for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

At the administrative buildings close by, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan illustrates a contrasting vision for the future. Well-groomed people move around on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, purchasing western-style bread and pastries and enlisting beverages on a terrace near a restaurant and dessert parlor. This represents a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that sustains the neighborhood.

"This represents no development for our community," states the artisan. "It's a massive real estate deal that will price people out for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the business conglomerate. Run by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has faced accusations of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

While the state government labels it a joint project, the corporation paid a significant amount for its controlling interest. A lawsuit alleging that the initiative was improperly granted to the developer is being considered in the top court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to actively protest the project, protesters and community members assert they have been faced a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising communications, direct threats and suggestions that speaking against the initiative was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they claim represent the corporate group.

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