🔗 Share this article

For months, threatening communications recurred. Originally, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, later from law enforcement directly. In the end, one resident claims he was called to the local precinct and warned explicitly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is among those opposing a high-value project where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces bulldozed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of the slum is exceptional in the planet," explains the resident. "But the plan aims to destroy our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of the slum present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that dominate the settlement. Homes are constructed informally and typically without proper sanitation, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the air is permeated by the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and apartments with two toilets is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We don't have sufficient health services, proper streets or drainage and we have no places for children to play," says a tea vendor, 56, who relocated from his home state in 1982. "The only way is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are fighting against the redevelopment.

All recognize that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing economic input and modernization. However they fear that this plan – lacking public consultation – is one that will convert premium city property into a luxury development, displacing the marginalized, migrant communities who have lived there since generations ago.

These were these marginalized, migrant workers who developed the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and business activity, whose production is valued at between $1m and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly 1 million people living in the crowded sprawling zone, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Others will be relocated to barren areas and saline fields on the far outskirts of the city, potentially divide a generations-old neighborhood. Some will not get homes at all.

People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be allocated apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the natural, collective approach of residing and operating that has supported this area for many years.

Industries from clothing production to pottery and waste processing are projected to shrink in number and be moved to an allocated "commercial zone" separated from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as the leather artisan, a craftsman and multi-generational inhabitant to call home Dharavi, the project presents an existential threat. His informal, three-storey facility makes garments – formal jackets, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – marketed in premium stores in south Mumbai and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the spaces below and employees and sewers – migrants from different regions – live on-site, allowing him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, housing costs are frequently significantly as high for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

Within the government offices nearby, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan depicts a contrasting perspective. Well-groomed residents mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, purchasing continental baguettes and pastries and having coffee on a terrace outside Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This represents a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that maintains the neighborhood.

"This represents no development for residents," says the artisan. "It's an enormous land development that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the business conglomerate. Managed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it denies.

While administrative bodies describes it as a partnership, the developer contributed a significant amount for its majority share. A lawsuit claiming that the initiative was questionably assigned to the corporation is pending in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to publicly resist the development, protesters and community members assert they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – including phone calls, explicit warnings and suggestions that opposing the project was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by figures they claim represent the business conglomerate.

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