Intimidation, Fear and Optimism as Mumbai Slum Dwellers Face Redevelopment

For months, threatening messages recurred. At first, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. In the end, a local artisan states he was summoned to the local precinct and told clearly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is among those opposing a high-value redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces bulldozed and modernized by a large business group.

"The culture of the slum is unparalleled in the world," explains the resident. "However their intention is to eradicate our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that overshadow the neighborhood. Dwellings are assembled randomly and typically without proper sanitation, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of premium apartments, neat parks, modern retail complexes and apartments with two toilets is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We lack proper healthcare, paved pathways or sewage systems and we have no places for kids to enjoy," says A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from southern India in 1982. "The single option is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

However, some, like Shaikh, are fighting against the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, long neglected as informal housing, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. However they are concerned that this initiative – without community input – could potentially convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, displacing the lower-caste, migrant communities who have resided there since generations ago.

These were these excluded, relocated individuals who developed the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and business activity, whose output is valued at between a significant amount and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about one million residents living in the crowded 220-hectare neighborhood, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Others will be moved to barren areas and salt plains on the far outskirts of Mumbai, threatening to break up a historic social network. Certain individuals will receive no residences at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the area will be provided apartments in tower blocks, a substantial change from the organic, collective approach of residing and operating that has maintained the community for generations.

Industries from clothing production to ceramic crafts and recycling are projected to reduce in scale and be moved to a designated "business area" separated from homes.

Survival Challenge

For residents like the leather artisan, a craftsman and third generation resident to call home Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey workshop creates garments – formal jackets, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – sold in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives lives in the spaces downstairs and his workers and sewers – laborers from other states – also sleep in the same building, permitting him to afford their labour. Beyond this community, accommodation prices are typically 10 times as high for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the government offices close by, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan depicts a contrasting perspective. Fashionable inhabitants gather on cycles and electric vehicles, buying continental baguettes and croissants and having coffee on a terrace outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. It is a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

"This isn't progress for residents," says the protester. "This constitutes a huge land development that will price people out for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists concern of the corporate group. Managed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the government head – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

While local authorities describes it as a joint project, the corporation paid $950m for its 80% stake. A lawsuit stating that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the business group is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to vocally oppose the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been subjected to an extended period of coercion and warning – including communications, clear intimidation and implications that criticizing the project was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by figures they allege represent the corporate group.

Part of the group accused of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c