Threats, Anxiety and Optimism as India's financial capital Slum Dwellers Await Demolition

Over an extended period, intimidating phone calls recurred. At first, allegedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. Ultimately, one resident claims he was called to the local precinct and warned explicitly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is among those fighting a multimillion-dollar initiative where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be bulldozed and modernized by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is exceptional in the planet," states Shaikh. "However their intention is to destroy our social fabric and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of this community sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that dominate the neighborhood. Dwellings are assembled randomly and frequently without proper sanitation, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the environment is filled with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and residences with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"We don't have proper healthcare, roads or drainage and there are no spaces for children to play," says a tea vendor, fifty-six, who relocated from his home state in 1982. "The only way is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

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

Everyone acknowledges that this community, long neglected as informal housing, is in stark need financial support and improvement. However they worry that this initiative – without public consultation – could potentially turn valuable urban land into a luxury development, forcing out the lower-caste, migrant communities who have been there since the nineteenth century.

These were these shunned, displaced people who built up the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose production is valued at between a significant amount and $2m per year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about 1 million people living in the packed 220-hectare area, fewer than half will be qualified for new homes in the project, which is estimated to take seven years to complete. Others will be transferred to barren areas and salt plains on the remote edges of the metropolis, threatening to break up a historic community. Some will not get residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the neighborhood will be given units in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has supported this area for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to pottery and material recovery are expected to shrink in number and be moved to a specific "business area" far from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation resident to reside in the slum, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor workshop produces apparel – sharp blazers, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – distributed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Household members dwells in the spaces underneath and employees and tailors – laborers from different regions – live in the same building, permitting him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, accommodation prices are often significantly costlier for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the administrative buildings in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting vision for the future. Fashionable residents move around on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, purchasing international baked goods and croissants and socializing on a patio outside Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This represents a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that sustains local residents.

"This represents no progress for us," explains Shaikh. "It represents an enormous property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

There is also skepticism of the corporate group. Managed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a close ally of the government head – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it denies.

Even as the state government labels it a collaborative effort, the corporation invested nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. A lawsuit alleging that the initiative was improperly granted to the developer is under review in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to publicly resist the development, local opponents claim they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – comprising communications, direct threats and insinuations that criticizing the development was equivalent to speaking against the country – by individuals they claim are associated with the developer.

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