🔗 Share this article

For months, threatening phone calls continued. At first, reportedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, subsequently from the police themselves. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was ordered to the local precinct and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is one of many fighting a multimillion-dollar initiative where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The culture of the slum is unparalleled in the planet," states the protester. "Yet they want to dismantle our social fabric and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that dominate the settlement. Residences are constructed informally and frequently without proper sanitation, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

To some, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and residences with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack sufficient health services, proper streets or water management and we have no places for children to play," says A Selvin Nadar, 56, who relocated from southern India in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

But others, like this protester, are opposing the project.

None deny that this community, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring investment and development. But they fear that this initiative – without resident participation – is one that will convert valuable urban land into a luxury development, evicting the lower-caste, working-class residents who have been there since the late 1800s.

These were these excluded, displaced people who built up the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose output is estimated at between a significant amount and two million dollars annually, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately a million people living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer zone, less than 50% will be eligible for replacement housing in the development, which is projected to take seven years to complete. Others will be relocated to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the remote edges of Mumbai, threatening to break up a generations-old neighborhood. Certain individuals will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in the neighborhood will be given units in multi-story structures, a major break from the evolved, communal way of residing and operating that has maintained Dharavi for generations.

Businesses from tailoring to pottery and waste processing are likely to shrink in number and be transferred to a specific "business area" separated from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and third generation resident to call home this community, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, three-storey facility creates leather coats – tailored coats, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – distributed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives resides in the rooms below and laborers and garment workers – workers from different regions – also sleep on-site, permitting him to manage costs. Beyond this community, accommodation prices are typically significantly costlier for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

At the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan shows a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, purchasing western-style bread and croissants and having coffee on an outdoor area near a coffee shop and treat station. This represents a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that maintains local residents.

"This isn't improvement for our community," says Shaikh. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will price people out for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the corporate group. Run by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a close ally of the government head – the conglomerate has faced accusations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it disputes.

While administrative bodies calls it a partnership, the business group paid a significant amount for its controlling interest. A case alleging that the initiative was questionably assigned to the corporation is being considered in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to publicly resist the development, protesters and community members assert they have been faced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – comprising communications, explicit warnings and suggestions that speaking against the initiative was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by people they assert represent the developer.

Among those accused of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c