🔗 Share this article

Across several weeks, threatening phone calls persisted. Originally, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, later from the police themselves. In the end, a local artisan claims he was summoned to the local precinct and told clearly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is one of many resisting a multimillion-dollar initiative where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be razed and modernized by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of this area is exceptional in the planet," says the protester. "Yet they want to destroy our way of life and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and elite residences that loom over the settlement. Residences are built haphazardly and frequently without proper sanitation, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and apartments with two toilets is a hopeful vision achieved.

"We don't have sufficient health services, proper streets or drainage and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," explains A Selvin Nadar, 56, who moved from southern India in that period. "The only way is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

But others, including Shaikh, are fighting against the plan.

All recognize that this community, long neglected as informal housing, is desperately requiring investment and development. Yet they fear that this plan – without resident participation – might transform premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have resided there since generations ago.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who established the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between a significant amount and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about one million people living in the dense 220-hectare neighborhood, fewer than half will be able for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Others will be relocated to barren areas and salt plains on the distant periphery of the metropolis, risking divide a generations-old social network. A portion will be denied homes at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the area will be given units in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the natural, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has maintained this area for generations.

Industries from tailoring to ceramic crafts and waste processing are expected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to a specific "business area" distant from homes.

Survival Challenge

In the case of this protester, a leather artisan and third generation inhabitant to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His informal, multi-level facility produces apparel – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – distributed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives lives in the spaces underneath and employees and sewers – migrants from north India – reside in the same building, enabling him to manage costs. Beyond the slum, housing costs are typically significantly as high for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

In the official facilities in the vicinity, a visual representation of the transformation initiative shows an alternative perspective. Fashionable residents move around on cycles and e-vehicles, purchasing continental baked goods and croissants and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. This represents a world away from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't improvement for residents," says the artisan. "This constitutes a huge property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the corporate group. Headed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the government head – the corporation has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Although administrative bodies calls it a partnership, the corporation paid $950m for its 80% stake. A lawsuit alleging that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the business group is pending in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the redevelopment, protesters and community members claim they have been faced ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – involving communications, direct threats and suggestions that speaking against the project was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by people they claim are associated with the developer.

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