🔗 Share this article

Across several weeks, intimidating communications recurred. At first, reportedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, later from the police themselves. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is part of a group opposing a expensive project where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – faces demolished and transformed by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is exceptional in the planet," says Shaikh. "But their intention is to eradicate our way of life and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that dominate the settlement. Residences are assembled randomly and typically missing basic amenities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of premium apartments, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and homes with two toilets is an aspirational dream realized.

"We lack sufficient health services, proper streets or drainage and we have no places for children to play," explains a tea vendor, 56, who moved from southern India in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

However, some, such as this protester, are opposing the project.

All recognize that this community, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need financial support and improvement. But they worry that this initiative – absent of resident participation – is one that will turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have been there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these excluded, migrant workers who established the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and commercial output, whose production is estimated at between $1m and a substantial sum per year, making it a major informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately one million residents living in the crowded sprawling area, less than 50% will be able for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is expected to take seven years to finish. The remainder will be transferred to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the metropolis, potentially break up a long-established community. A portion will not get residences at all.

Those allowed to stay in Dharavi will be allocated apartments in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the natural, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and recycling are likely to shrink in number and be moved to a designated "business area" far from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as the leather artisan, a workshop owner and multi-generational inhabitant to call home Dharavi, the project presents an existential threat. His rickety, three-storey operation makes garments – sharp blazers, luxury coats, decorated jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives lives in the rooms underneath and laborers and tailors – workers from different regions – live in the same building, permitting him to afford their labour. Away from the slum, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times as high for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

At the administrative buildings nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative depicts a very different perspective. Slickly dressed people gather on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, acquiring western-style baguettes and pastries and having coffee on a terrace outside a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This is not development for our community," says the protester. "This constitutes a huge land development that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the business conglomerate. Run by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the national leader – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

While administrative bodies labels it a collaborative effort, the developer contributed nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit alleging that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the business group is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

After they started to vocally oppose the project, local opponents state they have been experienced ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – involving messages, clear intimidation and implications that opposing the development was equivalent to opposing national interests – by people they allege are associated with the business conglomerate.

Part of the group suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c