Intimidation, Apprehension and Hope as Mumbai Slum Dwellers Confront Redevelopment

For months, threatening messages recurred. Originally, allegedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, later from the authorities. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is one of many resisting a high-value initiative where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be bulldozed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is exceptional in the world," states the resident. "But they want to eradicate our social fabric and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of the slum present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that loom over the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and often without proper sanitation, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and homes with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision achieved.

"We lack proper healthcare, proper streets or sewage systems and we have no places for children to play," states a tea vendor, fifty-six, who relocated from his home state in 1982. "The sole solution is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, such as the leather artisan, are resisting the redevelopment.

None deny that this community, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need financial support and improvement. Yet they worry that this plan – lacking community input – is one that will transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have resided there since generations ago.

This involved these shunned, relocated individuals who built up the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and commercial output, whose production is worth between $1m and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly a million residents living in the dense 220-hectare zone, a minority will be qualified for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is projected to take a significant period to finish. Additional residents will be transferred to barren areas and saline fields on the distant periphery of the metropolis, risking divide a generations-old neighborhood. Certain individuals will be denied homes at all.

Those allowed to remain in the neighborhood will be provided flats in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the evolved, collective approach of residing and operating that has supported this area for many years.

Businesses from tailoring to pottery and material recovery are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" far from residential areas.

Existential Threat

In the case of this protester, a workshop owner and multi-generational of his family to call home this community, the project presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey facility produces leather coats – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – marketed in premium stores in south Mumbai and abroad.

His family lives in the spaces downstairs and laborers and sewers – workers from other states – live on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Beyond the slum, housing costs are often tenfold as high for a single room.

Threats and Warning

At the administrative buildings nearby, a visual representation of the transformation initiative illustrates a contrasting outlook. Slickly dressed residents move around on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, purchasing continental baguettes and pastries and socializing on an outdoor area near a coffee shop and treat station. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that sustains the neighborhood.

"This isn't development for our community," states Shaikh. "It represents an enormous real estate deal that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's concern of the business conglomerate. Managed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has encountered allegations of favoritism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Although local authorities describes it as a partnership, the corporation invested nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit claiming that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the business group is under review in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and insinuations that speaking against the development was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by people they assert work for the business conglomerate.

Among those suspected of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c