🔗 Share this article

Over an extended period, intimidating phone calls persisted. Originally, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, and then from the authorities. Ultimately, one resident claims he was called to the police station and warned explicitly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is among those opposing a high-value redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be bulldozed and transformed by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of this area is exceptional in the world," explains Shaikh. "Yet the plan aims to destroy our way of life and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of the slum present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that dominate the area. Homes are constructed informally and frequently without proper sanitation, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is saturated with the suffocating smell of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and apartments with two toilets is a hopeful vision come true.

"There's no sufficient health services, roads or drainage and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from his home state in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need investment and development. Yet they fear that this plan – lacking resident participation – is one that will turn valuable urban land into a luxury development, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have resided there since the late 1800s.

These were these marginalized, migrant workers who built up the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and commercial output, whose output is worth between $1m and $2m annually, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million people living in the crowded sprawling zone, less than 50% will be eligible for replacement housing in the development, which is estimated to take seven years to complete. Others will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the distant periphery of Mumbai, threatening to break up a long-established social network. Some will not get housing at all.

Residents permitted to continue living in Dharavi will be given flats in multi-story structures, a major break from the natural, shared lifestyle of living and working that has sustained this area for many years.

Businesses from clothing production to pottery and material recovery are likely to decrease in quantity and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from homes.

Existential Threat

In the case of the leather artisan, a workshop owner and multi-generational resident to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His rickety, three-storey workshop makes garments – sharp blazers, suede trenches, decorated jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and abroad.

His family resides in the rooms below and his workers and sewers – migrants from different regions – live there, allowing him to afford their labour. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are typically 10 times more expensive for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

At the government offices close by, a conceptual model of the transformation initiative depicts an alternative vision for the future. Well-groomed inhabitants mill about on bicycles and electric vehicles, buying international bread and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area near a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This depicts a world away from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that supports local residents.

"This isn't progress for residents," explains Shaikh. "It represents a huge land development that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

There is also concern of the development company. Run by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Although local authorities labels it a joint project, the business group contributed $950m for its 80% stake. A case alleging that the project was improperly granted to the corporation is pending in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

After they started to actively protest the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been faced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – including messages, direct threats and insinuations that speaking against the development was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by figures they claim represent the corporate group.

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