🔗 Share this article

Over an extended period, threatening messages continued. Originally, reportedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was called to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is among those resisting a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces demolished and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of Dharavi is exceptional in the globe," explains the resident. "However their intention is to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of this community present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and elite residences that overshadow the neighborhood. Residences are built haphazardly and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is permeated by the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and apartments with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision realized.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or water management and we have no places for children to play," states A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The only way is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

However, some, like this protester, are fighting against the project.

None deny that this community, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing investment and development. Yet they worry that this project – without resident participation – could potentially convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, displacing the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have resided there since the late 1800s.

This involved these shunned, displaced people who built up the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and commercial output, whose output is estimated at between a significant amount and $2m a year, making it a major informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about a million people living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer area, less than 50% will be qualified for new homes in the redevelopment, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. Others will be relocated to wastelands and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the city, risking break up a long-established neighborhood. Certain individuals will be denied homes at all.

Residents permitted to remain in Dharavi will be given units in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has maintained the community for many years.

Industries from clothing production to clay work and material recovery are expected to shrink in number and be moved to a specific "business area" far from residential areas.

Existential Threat

In the case of the leather artisan, a leather artisan and multi-generational of his family to call home the slum, the project presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-floor operation produces apparel – tailored coats, luxury coats, fashionable garments – distributed in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Household members lives in the spaces downstairs and employees and garment workers – workers from north India – live there, permitting him to manage costs. Away from the slum, accommodation prices are typically 10 times more expensive for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the administrative buildings nearby, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan shows a contrasting outlook. Fashionable people mill about on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style baked goods and croissants and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area adjacent to a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

"This is not improvement for residents," states Shaikh. "It represents a huge property transaction that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

There is also skepticism of the corporate group. Managed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it rejects.

While local authorities calls it a collaborative effort, the business group contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. A lawsuit stating that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in the top court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to actively protest the development, local opponents assert they have been faced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – comprising communications, clear intimidation and insinuations that speaking against the project was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by people they claim are associated with the corporate group.

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