🔗 Share this article

Across several weeks, intimidating communications persisted. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, subsequently from law enforcement directly. In the end, a local artisan states he was ordered to the police station and told clearly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is part of a group opposing a multimillion-dollar project where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be demolished and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of Dharavi is exceptional in the globe," explains Shaikh. "But the plan aims to eradicate our way of life and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that overshadow the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and typically missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision come true.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from his home state in that period. "The only way is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, like Shaikh, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. However they worry that this project – lacking public consultation – is one that will turn valuable urban land into an elite enclave, evicting the marginalized, immigrant populations who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

These were these excluded, displaced people who built up the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose production is worth between a significant amount and a substantial sum annually, making it a major informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately one million residents living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, a minority will be able for new homes in the development, which is estimated to take a significant period to complete. The remainder will be transferred to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the distant periphery of the metropolis, threatening to divide a generations-old community. Certain individuals will be denied housing at all.

Residents permitted to continue living in Dharavi will be provided apartments in tower blocks, a substantial change from the natural, shared lifestyle of living and working that has maintained this area for generations.

Industries from tailoring to ceramic crafts and material recovery are likely to decrease in quantity and be relocated to a specific "business area" separated from homes.

Survival Challenge

In the case of the leather artisan, a workshop owner and third generation of his family to reside in Dharavi, the plan presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-storey workshop makes garments – sharp blazers, luxury coats, decorated jackets – sold in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Household members lives in the spaces underneath and employees and tailors – migrants from different regions – live in the same building, enabling him to sustain operations. Outside this community, accommodation prices are often significantly more expensive for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the administrative buildings nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative shows a contrasting outlook. Slickly dressed residents mill about on bicycles and electric vehicles, buying continental baguettes and croissants and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This represents a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that supports Dharavi's community.

"This is not progress for residents," states Shaikh. "It represents a huge real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

There is also skepticism of the development company. Managed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the government head – the conglomerate has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

While administrative bodies describes it as a partnership, the business group contributed $950m for its 80% stake. A case stating that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the developer is being considered in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to publicly resist the project, protesters and community members state they have been experienced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – including communications, direct threats and implications that opposing the project was tantamount to speaking against the country – by people they allege represent the corporate group.

Among those accused of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c