Threats, Fear and Optimism as India's financial capital Residents Await the Bulldozers

Over an extended period, intimidating messages continued. At first, reportedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, and then from the police themselves. Finally, one resident states he was ordered to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is one of many fighting a expensive initiative where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces demolished and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The culture of this area is unparalleled in the globe," explains the resident. "But their intention is to eradicate our community and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of this community stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that loom over the neighborhood. Homes are constructed informally and typically without proper sanitation, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and apartments with two toilets is an aspirational dream realized.

"There's no proper healthcare, roads or drainage and there's nowhere for children to play," explains A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who relocated from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Local Protest

But others, such as this protester, are resisting the redevelopment.

None deny that the slum, historically ignored as informal housing, is in stark need investment and development. But they worry that this plan – absent of public consultation – could potentially transform valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, evicting the marginalized, immigrant populations who have lived there since generations ago.

These were these shunned, relocated individuals who developed the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of community resilience and business activity, whose production is estimated at between a significant amount and $2m a year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million residents living in the dense sprawling zone, less than 50% will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take seven years to accomplish. Additional residents will be relocated to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the remote edges of Mumbai, risking divide a generations-old community. Certain individuals will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be given apartments in high-rise buildings, a major break from the evolved, collective approach of living and working that has sustained Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to pottery and material recovery are expected to reduce in scale and be relocated to a specific "business area" distant from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and multi-generational of his family to call home Dharavi, the project presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level operation makes leather coats – sharp blazers, suede trenches, fashionable garments – distributed in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Relatives lives in the accommodations underneath and laborers and garment workers – laborers from north India – reside in the same building, permitting him to afford their labour. Outside Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are often significantly costlier for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

In the administrative buildings close by, a visual representation of the transformation initiative shows a contrasting outlook. Slickly dressed inhabitants move around on cycles and electric vehicles, buying continental baguettes and pastries and having coffee on an outdoor area outside Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that maintains local residents.

"This represents no progress for us," states Shaikh. "It represents an enormous land development that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

There is also skepticism of the business conglomerate. Headed by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

Even as administrative bodies labels it a joint project, the business group invested $950m for its majority share. A case alleging that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

After they started to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents state they have been faced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – comprising phone calls, clear intimidation and insinuations that opposing the development was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they claim represent the corporate group.

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