🔗 Share this article

Over an extended period, threatening messages recurred. Originally, supposedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, and then from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, one resident states he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is part of a group resisting a high-value initiative where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces razed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the world," says the protester. "But their intention is to eradicate our way of life and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of this community stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and elite residences that loom over the settlement. Homes are built haphazardly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is saturated with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and homes with proper sanitation is an optimistic future achieved.

"There's no sufficient health services, roads or drainage and we have no places for kids to enjoy," explains a tea vendor, fifty-six, who moved from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

However, some, like the leather artisan, are fighting against the plan.

None deny that Dharavi, historically ignored as informal housing, is in stark need economic input and modernization. However they are concerned that this initiative – absent of resident participation – could potentially transform premium city property into a playground for the rich, displacing the marginalized, migrant communities who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

These were these excluded, relocated individuals who developed the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and commercial output, whose economic value is worth between $1m and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly one million people living in the dense sprawling neighborhood, fewer than half will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is estimated to take a significant period to complete. Others will be transferred to wastelands and salt plains on the far outskirts of Mumbai, potentially divide a historic community. Certain individuals will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be given units in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has sustained this area for generations.

Commercial activities from clothing production to ceramic crafts and recycling are likely to reduce in scale and be transferred to an allocated "industrial sector" far from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as Shaikh, a craftsman and multi-generational of his family to reside in the slum, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, three-storey workshop creates apparel – sharp blazers, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives dwells in the accommodations below and laborers and sewers – laborers from different regions – live on-site, permitting him to manage costs. Away from the slum, Mumbai rents are often tenfold more expensive for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the official facilities in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project shows a contrasting vision for the future. Well-groomed people gather on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style baked goods and pastries and having coffee on an outdoor area outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This depicts a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that maintains the neighborhood.

"This is not improvement for residents," states Shaikh. "It represents an enormous land development that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

There is also skepticism of the corporate group. Run by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a close ally of the national leader – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it denies.

While the state government calls it a joint project, the developer paid nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit stating that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the developer is being considered in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to actively protest the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been faced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – comprising communications, clear intimidation and insinuations that speaking against the initiative was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by figures they allege work for the developer.

Included in these suspected of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c