Threats, Fear and Hope as India's financial capital Inhabitants Await the Bulldozers

Across several weeks, threatening phone calls recurred. At first, allegedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, and then from the authorities. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was ordered to the police station and warned explicitly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many opposing a multimillion-dollar initiative where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be bulldozed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is like nowhere else in the globe," says Shaikh. "Yet their intention is to dismantle our community and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of the slum present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that overshadow the neighborhood. Dwellings are built haphazardly and typically missing basic amenities, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is saturated with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and apartments with two toilets is an optimistic future come true.

"There's no proper healthcare, paved pathways or sewage systems and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states a chai seller, fifty-six, who relocated from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

But others, like Shaikh, are resisting the redevelopment.

All recognize that this community, long neglected as informal housing, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. Yet they are concerned that this initiative – without public consultation – might turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, displaced people who established the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and commercial output, whose output is valued at between a significant amount and $2m a year, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly 1 million people living in the crowded 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be eligible for new homes in the redevelopment, which is projected to take a significant period to finish. Others will be moved to wastelands and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the metropolis, potentially break up a long-established community. Certain individuals will not get homes at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the area will be provided units in tower blocks, a significant rupture from the evolved, shared lifestyle of living and working that has maintained Dharavi for many years.

Businesses from garment work to ceramic crafts and recycling are likely to decrease in quantity and be relocated to an allocated "business area" far from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like this protester, a leather artisan and third generation resident to live in the slum, the project presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey facility makes leather coats – tailored coats, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – distributed in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives dwells in the spaces below and employees and sewers – workers from different regions – live in the same building, allowing him to manage costs. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are typically 10 times costlier for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the government offices nearby, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project illustrates an alternative perspective. Fashionable people mill about on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, purchasing continental baguettes and pastries and enlisting beverages on a terrace outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. It is a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that maintains local residents.

"This represents no development for residents," explains the artisan. "It's an enormous real estate deal that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

There is also concern of the development company. Headed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the national leader – the business group has been subject to claims of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

While the state government labels it a collaborative effort, the business group paid nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings alleging that the project was improperly granted to the developer is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to actively protest the project, protesters and community members assert they have been faced an extended period of pressure and threats – comprising communications, direct threats and insinuations that opposing the development was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by people they assert represent the developer.

Included in these accused of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c