Pressure, Anxiety and Hope as India's financial capital Slum Dwellers Confront Redevelopment

Over an extended period, intimidating messages continued. At first, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, later from the police themselves. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was ordered to the local precinct and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is one of many fighting a high-value project where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be demolished and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

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

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that loom over the settlement. Dwellings are constructed informally and typically lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is permeated by the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

To some, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with proper sanitation is an optimistic future come true.

"We lack sufficient health services, paved pathways or sewage systems and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," explains a tea vendor, 56, who migrated from southern India in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, such as this protester, are fighting against the project.

None deny that this community, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. Yet they worry that this initiative – without resident participation – is one that will convert premium city property into an elite enclave, forcing out the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have been there since the late 1800s.

This involved these marginalized, relocated individuals who developed the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and business activity, whose economic value is worth between a significant amount and two million dollars per year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately a million residents living in the dense 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be qualified for new homes in the project, which is estimated to take seven years to accomplish. Additional residents will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the remote edges of the city, threatening to fragment a historic neighborhood. A portion will receive no residences at all.

Residents permitted to continue living in the area will be provided apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the organic, collective approach of living and working that has supported Dharavi for generations.

Industries from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to a specific "industrial sector" distant from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

For residents like the leather artisan, a workshop owner and multi-generational resident to live in this community, the plan presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, multi-level facility makes apparel – sharp blazers, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – distributed in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the accommodations underneath and laborers and garment workers – workers from north India – reside there, enabling him to afford their labour. Away from this community, accommodation prices are often tenfold more expensive for a single room.

Threats and Warning

Within the government offices nearby, a visual representation of the Dharavi project shows a very different perspective. Well-groomed residents gather on cycles and e-vehicles, buying international bread and breakfast items and enlisting beverages on a patio outside Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This depicts a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains local residents.

"This represents no improvement for us," explains the protester. "It's a huge land development that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

There is also concern of the corporate group. Managed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and an associate of the national leader – the corporation has encountered allegations of favoritism and questionable practices, which it denies.

While the state government labels it a collaborative effort, the corporation contributed $950m for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings stating that the initiative was improperly granted to the developer is under review in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to vocally oppose the development, protesters and community members claim they have been experienced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving communications, clear intimidation and suggestions that criticizing the project was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by individuals they claim work for the corporate group.

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