🔗 Share this article

For months, threatening phone calls recurred. Initially, supposedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, subsequently from the police themselves. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was called to the police station and told clearly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

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

"The culture of this area is exceptional in the world," states Shaikh. "But they want to eradicate our community and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of this community present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that loom over the neighborhood. Homes are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the air is filled with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

Among some individuals, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and residences with two toilets is an optimistic future achieved.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or water management and we have no places for kids to enjoy," explains a tea vendor, 56, who moved from his home state in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, such as the leather artisan, are resisting the project.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. Yet they worry that this plan – absent of resident participation – is one that will convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, evicting the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have resided there since the late 1800s.

These were these excluded, relocated individuals who established the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of community resilience and commercial output, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and a substantial sum annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly 1 million people living in the dense sprawling neighborhood, a minority will be able for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take seven years to finish. Others will be transferred to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, threatening to divide a historic community. Certain individuals will not get residences at all.

People eligible to remain in Dharavi will be provided flats in tower blocks, a substantial change from the organic, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has maintained this area for so long.

Industries from clothing production to ceramic crafts and material recovery are projected to decrease in quantity and be moved to a specific "commercial zone" far from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For those such as the leather artisan, a workshop owner and long-time resident to call home the slum, the project presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-storey facility makes apparel – tailored coats, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – sold in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

His family resides in the accommodations below and laborers and garment workers – laborers from other states – also sleep there, permitting him to afford their labour. Outside Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are typically significantly more expensive for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the administrative buildings close by, a visual representation of the transformation initiative depicts an alternative outlook. Slickly dressed inhabitants gather on cycles and electric vehicles, purchasing international bread and croissants and enlisting beverages on a terrace adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This depicts a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that supports the neighborhood.

"This is not development for residents," says Shaikh. "It represents a massive land development that will price people out for our community to continue."

There is also skepticism of the development company. Headed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a supporter of the national leader – the corporation has faced accusations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Even as administrative bodies labels it a joint project, the corporation invested a significant amount for its majority share. Legal proceedings alleging that the project was questionably assigned to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to actively protest the redevelopment, protesters and community members assert they have been experienced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – comprising communications, explicit warnings and insinuations that opposing the initiative was tantamount to speaking against the country – by figures they claim represent the developer.

Among those alleged to have making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c