Threats, Anxiety and Hope as Mumbai Slum Dwellers Await Redevelopment

For months, coercive messages recurred. Initially, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, and then from the authorities. In the end, a local artisan states he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is part of a group opposing a expensive project where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be demolished and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is unparalleled in the world," explains the resident. "But the plan aims to destroy our way of life and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the settlement. Dwellings are built haphazardly and frequently missing basic amenities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is filled with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of luxury high-rises, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and homes with proper sanitation is an optimistic future come true.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or sewage systems and there are no spaces for children to play," states a chai seller, fifty-six, who moved from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The single option is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

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

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. However they worry that this plan – absent of resident participation – is one that will transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, displacing the lower-caste, migrant communities who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these excluded, migrant workers who established the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and commercial output, whose output is estimated at between $1m and $2m annually, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately 1 million people living in the crowded 220-hectare zone, fewer than half will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. Others will be relocated to barren areas and salt plains on the far outskirts of Mumbai, threatening to divide a generations-old social network. A portion will be denied homes at all.

Residents permitted to stay in Dharavi will be provided units in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the organic, communal way of residing and operating that has maintained the community for so long.

Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and material recovery are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like this protester, a craftsman and third generation resident to call home the slum, the project presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level operation makes apparel – tailored coats, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – marketed in premium stores in south Mumbai and internationally.

Relatives resides in the accommodations below and laborers and tailors – migrants from north India – also sleep in the same building, enabling him to manage costs. Away from this community, Mumbai rents are often significantly as high for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

Within the official facilities nearby, a conceptual model of the transformation initiative shows a contrasting perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on cycles and e-vehicles, buying international baguettes and croissants and enlisting beverages on a terrace near a coffee shop and treat station. It is a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that supports the neighborhood.

"This is not improvement for us," explains the protester. "It represents an enormous property transaction that will price people out for residents to remain."

There is also distrust of the development company. Run by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the national leader – the corporation has been subject to claims of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Although local authorities labels it a collaborative effort, the business group invested nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit alleging that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the developer is pending in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to actively protest the development, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been experienced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – involving messages, clear intimidation and insinuations that speaking against the project was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by figures they allege work for the business conglomerate.

Part of the group alleged to have making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c