Intimidation, Fear and Optimism as Mumbai Residents Confront Demolition

For months, threatening phone calls continued. Originally, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, subsequently from the police themselves. Finally, one resident claims he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is part of a group fighting a expensive project where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – will be bulldozed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is exceptional in the planet," says the resident. "But their intention is to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of the slum sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that overshadow the settlement. Residences are assembled randomly and frequently missing basic amenities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the air is filled with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and residences with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision realized.

"There's no sufficient health services, paved pathways or water management and we have no places for children to play," explains a tea vendor, in his fifties, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The single option is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Local Protest

But others, including the leather artisan, are opposing the redevelopment.

None deny that this community, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. But they fear that this initiative – lacking resident participation – might turn valuable urban land into a luxury development, evicting the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have lived there since the late 1800s.

These were these shunned, displaced people who built up the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between one million dollars and $2m a year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Out of about a million inhabitants living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take a significant period to accomplish. The remainder will be transferred to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the distant periphery of Mumbai, risking fragment a generations-old social network. A portion will be denied residences at all.

Those allowed to remain in Dharavi will be given units in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the natural, communal way of living and working that has sustained this area for many years.

Businesses from garment work to clay work and material recovery are projected to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "industrial sector" far from homes.

Survival Challenge

For those such as the leather artisan, a craftsman and long-time of his family to call home Dharavi, the project presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-floor workshop makes leather coats – tailored coats, suede trenches, decorated jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Household members resides in the spaces underneath and his workers and sewers – workers from different regions – also sleep on-site, permitting him to manage costs. Outside Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are often significantly costlier for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan shows an alternative perspective. Fashionable inhabitants mill about on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, acquiring continental baguettes and pastries and having coffee on a terrace adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and dessert parlor. It is a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

"This isn't development for residents," explains Shaikh. "It represents an enormous property transaction that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the business conglomerate. Headed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the business group has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Even as the state government describes it as a partnership, the developer contributed a significant amount for its majority share. Legal proceedings stating that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is pending in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to vocally oppose the redevelopment, local opponents claim they have been faced an extended period of coercion and warning – including messages, direct threats and implications that opposing the project was comparable with opposing national interests – by figures they allege represent the developer.

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