🔗 Share this article

Across several weeks, intimidating phone calls recurred. Originally, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, and then from the authorities. Ultimately, one resident states he was summoned to the police station and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is part of a group resisting a multimillion-dollar project where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be bulldozed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of the slum is unparalleled in the globe," says the resident. "Yet they want to destroy our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that loom over the settlement. Residences are built haphazardly and often without proper sanitation, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the environment is saturated with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," states A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who migrated from his home state in 1982. "The only way is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are fighting against the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing investment and development. But they worry that this initiative – lacking public consultation – might convert valuable urban land into an elite enclave, displacing the lower-caste, migrant communities who have resided there since generations ago.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between $1m and a substantial sum annually, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Out of about 1 million people living in the crowded sprawling area, less than 50% will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is expected to take seven years to finish. Additional residents will be transferred to wastelands and salt plains on the distant periphery of Mumbai, threatening to fragment a historic social network. A portion will not get homes at all.

People eligible to remain in Dharavi will be allocated flats in tower blocks, a major break from the evolved, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has sustained this area for so long.

Businesses from clothing production to ceramic crafts and material recovery are expected to decrease in quantity and be relocated to a specific "business area" distant from residential areas.

Existential Threat

In the case of this protester, a craftsman and third generation inhabitant to reside in Dharavi, the project presents a survival challenge. His rickety, multi-level operation makes leather coats – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – distributed in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and internationally.

Relatives resides in the rooms downstairs and employees and garment workers – migrants from different regions – also sleep on-site, permitting him to sustain operations. Outside Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are typically 10 times more expensive for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative illustrates a contrasting vision for the future. Fashionable residents mill about on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, buying western-style baked goods and breakfast items and socializing on an outdoor area outside a restaurant and treat station. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that maintains the neighborhood.

"This is not improvement for us," says Shaikh. "It's an enormous land development that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists concern of the business conglomerate. Headed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a supporter of the government head – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Although the state government describes it as a partnership, the developer invested $950m for its majority share. Legal proceedings stating that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the corporation is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to publicly resist the redevelopment, local opponents claim they have been experienced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – including communications, clear intimidation and implications that criticizing the project was tantamount to opposing national interests – by people they assert represent the corporate group.

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