Threats, Anxiety and Hope as India's financial capital Residents Confront Demolition

For months, intimidating phone calls persisted. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, and then from the police themselves. Finally, a local artisan asserts he was called to the police station and told clearly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is among those fighting a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – faces demolished and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The culture of this area is like nowhere else in the planet," explains the protester. "But their intention is to destroy our community and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and elite residences that overshadow the neighborhood. Homes are constructed informally and frequently without proper sanitation, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is permeated by the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and homes with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision come true.

"We don't have proper healthcare, paved pathways or sewage systems and there are no spaces for children to play," explains a tea vendor, in his fifties, who migrated from his home state in that period. "The only way is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

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

All recognize that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing economic input and modernization. Yet they are concerned that this plan – without public consultation – is one that will convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, evicting the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

These were these marginalized, migrant workers who built up the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and business activity, whose production is valued at between $1m and $2m per year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about a million people living in the dense sprawling area, fewer than half will be able for replacement housing in the project, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Additional residents will be moved to wastelands and salt plains on the distant periphery of the metropolis, potentially break up a long-established social network. Some will receive no residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be given apartments in tower blocks, a major break from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has supported this area for generations.

Industries from tailoring to ceramic crafts and material recovery are projected to reduce in scale and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" separated from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like the leather artisan, a workshop owner and third generation resident to call home the slum, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His makeshift, multi-level operation makes apparel – sharp blazers, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – distributed in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

Relatives dwells in the accommodations downstairs and laborers and garment workers – laborers from north India – reside there, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from the slum, housing costs are typically 10 times more expensive for a single room.

Threats and Warning

Within the administrative buildings in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting vision for the future. Slickly dressed people move around on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, buying continental bread and pastries and having coffee on a patio outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This represents a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't improvement for us," states the protester. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will price people out for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the corporate group. Run by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has faced accusations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

While administrative bodies calls it a joint project, the developer paid a significant amount for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings claiming that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the developer is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to vocally oppose the redevelopment, protesters and community members claim they have been experienced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – including phone calls, direct threats and suggestions that opposing the initiative was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by people they assert are associated with the corporate group.

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