Threats, Anxiety and Optimism as Mumbai Inhabitants Await Demolition

Across several weeks, threatening communications persisted. Originally, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, and then from the police themselves. Ultimately, one resident asserts he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is among those opposing a multimillion-dollar initiative where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be demolished and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the planet," says the resident. "But their intention is to destroy our community and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and elite residences that overshadow the settlement. Dwellings are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the environment is permeated by the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, neat parks, modern retail complexes and residences with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream come true.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, proper streets or water management and there's nowhere for children to play," explains A Selvin Nadar, 56, who migrated from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

However, some, like the leather artisan, are resisting the plan.

None deny that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. Yet they fear that this project – lacking public consultation – is one that will convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, displacing the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have resided there since the late 1800s.

This involved these excluded, relocated individuals who built up the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of community resilience and commercial output, whose production is estimated at between $1m and two million dollars annually, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly one million inhabitants living in the packed 220-hectare neighborhood, fewer than half will be able for alternative accommodation in the development, which is expected to take a significant period to finish. Additional residents will be transferred to barren areas and saline fields on the distant periphery of the city, threatening to divide a generations-old neighborhood. A portion will be denied housing at all.

People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be given apartments in high-rise buildings, a major break from the evolved, communal way of living and working that has supported Dharavi for so long.

Industries from clothing production to pottery and waste processing are expected to reduce in scale and be relocated to a designated "business area" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as this protester, a craftsman and third generation of his family to call home this community, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level facility produces apparel – sharp blazers, luxury coats, fashionable garments – distributed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

Relatives resides in the rooms downstairs and his workers and tailors – laborers from different regions – reside on-site, allowing him to manage costs. Outside the slum, housing costs are typically tenfold as high for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities close by, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting vision for the future. Well-groomed people gather on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, purchasing western-style baguettes and croissants and having coffee on a terrace near a restaurant and treat station. It is a world away from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

"This is not development for residents," says the artisan. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will price people out for us to survive."

There is also distrust of the corporate group. Run by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a close ally of the national leader – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Although the state government calls it a joint project, the developer invested a significant amount for its majority share. A case claiming that the initiative was questionably assigned to the developer is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, protesters and community members state they have been experienced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – comprising messages, direct threats and implications that opposing the project was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by individuals they claim work for the corporate group.

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