🔗 Share this article

For months, coercive messages continued. Initially, allegedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, and then from the police themselves. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was called to the police station and warned explicitly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is part of a group resisting a high-value initiative where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces demolished and transformed by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is unparalleled in the globe," states the protester. "But they want to destroy our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of this community present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that dominate the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and frequently without proper sanitation, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of luxury high-rises, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and residences with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or sewage systems and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," says A Selvin Nadar, 56, who moved from his home state in that period. "The single option is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

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

All recognize that the slum, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need investment and development. Yet they are concerned that this project – lacking community input – is one that will turn valuable urban land into an elite enclave, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have been there since generations ago.

This involved these marginalized, displaced people who established the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and commercial output, whose production is estimated at between one million dollars and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly one million residents living in the crowded 220-hectare area, less than 50% will be able for new homes in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take seven years to accomplish. The remainder will be transferred to barren areas and saline fields on the distant periphery of the city, threatening to divide a generations-old social network. A portion will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to stay in the area will be provided units in multi-story structures, a major break from the evolved, collective approach of living and working that has supported Dharavi for many years.

Businesses from clothing production to clay work and recycling are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to a specific "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For residents like Shaikh, a leather artisan and long-time of his family to reside in the slum, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, multi-level facility creates apparel – formal jackets, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

Relatives dwells in the spaces underneath and his workers and sewers – workers from north India – also sleep on-site, permitting him to afford their labour. Beyond the slum, accommodation prices are typically 10 times more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the official facilities nearby, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan shows an alternative perspective. Slickly dressed people move around on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, purchasing western-style baked goods and pastries and enlisting beverages on a patio adjacent to a coffee shop and treat station. This depicts a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

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

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the corporate group. Run by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the national leader – the business group has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Even as administrative bodies labels it a partnership, the developer paid a significant amount for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings alleging that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the corporation is under review in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to vocally oppose the project, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, explicit warnings and insinuations that speaking against the initiative was equivalent to opposing national interests – by individuals they allege are associated with the corporate group.

Among those accused of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c