Pressure, Fear and Optimism as Mumbai Slum Dwellers Confront the Bulldozers

Across several weeks, coercive communications recurred. Originally, allegedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, and then from the police themselves. Finally, a local artisan claims he was called to the police station and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is part of a group opposing a expensive project where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is like nowhere else in the globe," says the protester. "Yet their intention is to dismantle our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that loom over the neighborhood. Dwellings are assembled randomly and often lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is filled with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and homes with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream achieved.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, roads or sewage systems and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," explains A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who migrated from his home state in the early eighties. "The single option is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

However, some, like this protester, are fighting against the plan.

None deny that Dharavi, historically ignored as informal housing, is urgently needing investment and development. But they fear that this project – without resident participation – might convert valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have resided there since the late 1800s.

These were these excluded, displaced people who built up the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of community resilience and commercial output, whose production is valued at between $1m and two million dollars per year, making it a major informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately one million people living in the packed sprawling area, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is expected to take a significant period to finish. Others will be transferred to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the distant periphery of the metropolis, risking fragment a long-established social network. Certain individuals will not get residences at all.

Residents permitted to remain in Dharavi will be provided units in tower blocks, a substantial change from the natural, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are projected to reduce in scale and be transferred to a specific "commercial zone" far from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

For those such as the leather artisan, a craftsman and third generation of his family to call home the slum, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey facility creates leather coats – tailored coats, luxury coats, decorated jackets – distributed in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and overseas.

His family dwells in the spaces below and employees and sewers – workers from other states – reside on-site, permitting him to manage costs. Outside the slum, accommodation prices are frequently tenfold more expensive for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

In the official facilities close by, a visual representation of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring international baked goods and croissants and enlisting beverages on a patio adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This depicts a world away from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that maintains the neighborhood.

"This is not improvement for us," states the artisan. "It represents a massive real estate deal that will price people out for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the corporate group. Headed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Even as the state government calls it a collaborative effort, the developer invested $950m for its controlling interest. A case alleging that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the business group is under review in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to publicly resist the redevelopment, protesters and community members assert they have been faced an extended period of pressure and threats – comprising phone calls, clear intimidation and insinuations that criticizing the development was comparable with opposing national interests – by people they allege represent the corporate group.

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