Pressure, Apprehension and Hope as Mumbai Inhabitants Await the Bulldozers
Over an extended period, coercive communications continued. At first, allegedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, subsequently from the police themselves. Finally, a local artisan states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.
Shaikh is among those resisting a multimillion-dollar initiative where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and modernized by a large business group.
"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is exceptional in the globe," states the protester. "Yet their intention is to dismantle our community and silence our voices."
Dual Worlds
The narrow alleys of the slum sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that dominate the area. Dwellings are constructed informally and often missing basic amenities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is permeated by the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.
To some, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, neat parks, modern retail complexes and apartments with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision achieved.
"There's no proper healthcare, proper streets or drainage and we have no places for youth to recreate," says a tea vendor, fifty-six, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The single option is to clear the area and provide modern residences."
Resident Opposition
But others, including this protester, are resisting the redevelopment.
None deny that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. But they fear that this plan – absent of public consultation – is one that will turn premium city property into a luxury development, evicting the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have been there since the late 1800s.
It was these excluded, relocated individuals who developed the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and economic productivity, whose economic value is valued at between a significant amount and two million dollars per year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.
Relocation Worries
Of the roughly a million inhabitants living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, less than 50% will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Others will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the remote edges of the metropolis, risking fragment a long-established neighborhood. Some will be denied residences at all.
People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be provided units in high-rise buildings, a major break from the organic, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has sustained this area for many years.
Industries from clothing production to clay work and recycling are expected to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "commercial zone" separated from homes.
Existential Threat
For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and third generation resident to reside in this community, the plan presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-floor operation produces leather coats – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and overseas.
His family resides in the rooms below and laborers and garment workers – workers from north India – also sleep there, allowing him to afford their labour. Beyond the slum, accommodation prices are often tenfold as high for basic accommodation.
Pressure and Coercion
Within the administrative buildings in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project shows an alternative perspective. Fashionable residents gather on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, purchasing international baguettes and pastries and socializing on an outdoor area near a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains the neighborhood.
"This is not improvement for us," says the protester. "It's a massive land development that will price people out for our community to continue."
Additionally, there exists concern of the development company. Headed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it denies.
While local authorities describes it as a partnership, the developer contributed nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A case alleging that the project was questionably assigned to the business group is being considered in India's supreme court.
Continued Intimidation
After they started to actively protest the redevelopment, protesters and community members assert they have been experienced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving communications, direct threats and implications that speaking against the development was tantamount to opposing national interests – by figures they allege are associated with the business conglomerate.
Included in these suspected of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c
