Pressure, Apprehension and Aspiration as Mumbai Residents Face Redevelopment

Over an extended period, threatening phone calls continued. Originally, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, later from the authorities. Finally, one resident asserts he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is part of a group opposing a high-value project where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be razed and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The culture of this area is exceptional in the planet," says the protester. "However the plan aims to dismantle our way of life and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that dominate the neighborhood. Homes are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is saturated with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and homes with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision come true.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or sewage systems and we have no places for youth to recreate," explains A Selvin Nadar, 56, who migrated from his home state in that period. "The sole solution is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, such as Shaikh, are opposing the project.

All recognize that this community, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring investment and development. But they fear that this plan – lacking community input – is one that will transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, evicting the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these marginalized, migrant workers who built up the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between $1m and two million dollars a year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about 1 million residents living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be eligible for new homes in the development, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. Additional residents will be moved to wastelands and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the city, threatening to break up a generations-old neighborhood. A portion will not get housing at all.

People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be allocated apartments in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of residing and operating that has sustained the community for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and recycling are expected to reduce in scale and be moved to a specific "commercial zone" separated from homes.

Survival Challenge

For residents like the leather artisan, a workshop owner and multi-generational inhabitant to live in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor operation makes apparel – sharp blazers, suede trenches, decorated jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Relatives resides in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and sewers – laborers from different regions – reside on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Beyond the slum, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times costlier for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

At the government offices nearby, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan depicts a very different outlook. Slickly dressed inhabitants move around on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, buying international baguettes and pastries and enlisting beverages on a terrace outside Dharavi Cafe and dessert parlor. It is a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This is not progress for residents," says Shaikh. "It represents a huge property transaction that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists concern of the business conglomerate. Headed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the business group has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it denies.

Although the state government labels it a collaborative effort, the developer paid nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. A case alleging that the initiative was improperly granted to the developer is under review in the top court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents state they have been experienced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – including messages, direct threats and insinuations that speaking against the development was equivalent to opposing national interests – by figures they assert work for the corporate group.

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