Threats, Anxiety and Optimism as Mumbai Inhabitants Face the Bulldozers

Across several weeks, intimidating communications persisted. At first, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, and then from the authorities. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was ordered to the local precinct and warned explicitly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is one of many fighting a expensive redevelopment plan where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – will be demolished and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," says the resident. "But the plan aims to dismantle our community and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that loom over the settlement. Residences are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the environment is saturated with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

To some, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and residences with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision realized.

"We lack sufficient health services, proper streets or sewage systems and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," says A Selvin Nadar, 56, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

But others, like Shaikh, are opposing the redevelopment.

None deny that this community, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing investment and development. However they are concerned that this initiative – without public consultation – is one that will turn premium city property into a luxury development, forcing out the marginalized, migrant communities who have resided there since the late 1800s.

It was these excluded, displaced people who built up the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is estimated at between a significant amount and two million dollars a year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Out of about one million people living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, fewer than half will be eligible for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is expected to take a significant period to accomplish. Additional residents will be moved to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the distant periphery of the metropolis, risking divide a historic neighborhood. Some will receive no housing at all.

Those allowed to stay in the area will be allocated units in tower blocks, a significant rupture from the natural, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has supported this area for many years.

Industries from clothing production to ceramic crafts and material recovery are expected to reduce in scale and be moved to a designated "commercial zone" far from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

For those such as this protester, a workshop owner and third generation inhabitant to live in the slum, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, multi-level workshop creates garments – tailored coats, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

His family dwells in the rooms downstairs and laborers and sewers – laborers from north India – also sleep on-site, permitting him to sustain operations. Away from the slum, housing costs are often tenfold as high for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the government offices close by, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan shows a very different vision for the future. Well-groomed people move around on bicycles and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style bread and pastries and socializing on an outdoor area outside a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't improvement for us," says Shaikh. "This constitutes an enormous property transaction that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the development company. Run by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Even as local authorities labels it a joint project, the business group contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. A lawsuit claiming that the project was improperly granted to the developer is being considered in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to publicly resist the development, local opponents assert they have been experienced an extended period of pressure and threats – involving phone calls, explicit warnings and suggestions that speaking against the initiative was tantamount to opposing national interests – by figures they claim are associated with the corporate group.

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