🔗 Share this article

For months, threatening phone calls continued. At first, allegedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, subsequently from the police themselves. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was called to the police station and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is one of many fighting a expensive project where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – will be bulldozed and transformed by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is unparalleled in the globe," explains the protester. "Yet they want to eradicate our social fabric and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and elite residences that overshadow the area. Dwellings are constructed informally and typically missing basic amenities, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the air is filled with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with proper sanitation is an optimistic future come true.

"There's no proper healthcare, roads or water management and we have no places for kids to enjoy," says a chai seller, in his fifties, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The single option is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

But others, such as the leather artisan, are resisting the plan.

None deny that this community, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need economic input and modernization. Yet they fear that this plan – lacking resident participation – might transform valuable urban land into an elite enclave, evicting the marginalized, working-class residents who have been there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these marginalized, relocated individuals who built up the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose output is worth between a significant amount and $2m per year, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly one million inhabitants living in the dense 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be qualified for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is expected to take a significant period to finish. The remainder will be relocated to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the distant periphery of Mumbai, potentially fragment a generations-old community. Some will receive no homes at all.

Those allowed to remain in the neighborhood will be provided units in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the organic, shared lifestyle of living and working that has supported this area for many years.

Industries from tailoring to pottery and material recovery are projected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to an allocated "business area" separated from homes.

Existential Threat

For residents like Shaikh, a workshop owner and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in the slum, the plan presents an existential threat. His makeshift, three-storey workshop creates leather coats – formal jackets, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – marketed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Household members dwells in the spaces underneath and employees and garment workers – laborers from different regions – also sleep in the same building, enabling him to afford their labour. Outside this community, Mumbai rents are frequently 10 times as high for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

In the official facilities in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan shows a contrasting perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on cycles and eco-friendly transport, purchasing international baked goods and croissants and having coffee on a patio adjacent to a restaurant and treat station. This represents a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that supports the neighborhood.

"This represents no progress for us," states the artisan. "This constitutes an enormous property transaction that will price people out for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the development company. Headed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has faced accusations of crony capitalism and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Although the state government labels it a joint project, the business group paid nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit stating that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the business group is being considered in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to actively protest the redevelopment, protesters and community members state they have been faced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – comprising messages, direct threats and implications that speaking against the development was comparable with speaking against the country – by individuals they allege represent the developer.

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