🔗 Share this article

Over an extended period, intimidating phone calls recurred. Originally, allegedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, and then from the police themselves. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was summoned to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is one of many fighting a high-value initiative where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces razed and transformed by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the planet," states the resident. "However their intention is to destroy our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and elite residences that dominate the settlement. Homes are assembled randomly and frequently without proper sanitation, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the air is permeated by the suffocating smell of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of luxury high-rises, neat parks, contemporary malls and apartments with proper sanitation is an optimistic future come true.

"We lack proper healthcare, proper streets or drainage and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," explains a chai seller, 56, who migrated from southern India in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, such as this protester, are opposing the plan.

None deny that Dharavi, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need investment and development. But they fear that this project – lacking public consultation – could potentially turn valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, forcing out the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these excluded, migrant workers who built up the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between $1m and two million dollars per year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately 1 million inhabitants living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, a minority will be eligible for new homes in the redevelopment, which is expected to take seven years to complete. Others will be moved to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the remote edges of the metropolis, risking break up a generations-old social network. A portion will not get homes at all.

Those allowed to remain in Dharavi will be given flats in multi-story structures, a major break from the evolved, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has maintained this area for many years.

Businesses from garment work to clay work and material recovery are likely to reduce in scale and be relocated to a specific "commercial zone" far from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a workshop owner and third generation resident to reside in this community, the plan presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor workshop produces garments – formal jackets, luxury coats, fashionable garments – distributed in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Relatives lives in the rooms downstairs and employees and garment workers – laborers from north India – live there, enabling him to afford their labour. Away from Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are often significantly costlier for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project depicts a very different perspective. Fashionable residents gather on cycles and e-vehicles, buying international baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area adjacent to a restaurant and treat station. This depicts a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This is not development for us," explains the protester. "It represents a massive land development that will price people out for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the development company. Headed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a supporter of the government head – the business group has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Although local authorities labels it a collaborative effort, the business group invested $950m for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings stating that the initiative was improperly granted to the corporation is pending in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to actively protest the redevelopment, local opponents state they have been experienced ongoing efforts of coercion and warning – comprising messages, clear intimidation and suggestions that opposing the development was comparable with speaking against the country – by figures they allege are associated with the developer.

Included in these alleged to have issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c