For months, coercive phone calls persisted. Originally, allegedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, later from the authorities. Finally, one resident states he was summoned to the police station and warned explicitly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.
The leather artisan is among those resisting a expensive redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be bulldozed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.
"The unique ecosystem of the slum is exceptional in the globe," states Shaikh. "Yet their intention is to dismantle our community and silence our voices."
Contrasting Realities
The cramped lanes of this community present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and elite residences that dominate the settlement. Residences are constructed informally and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.
To some, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and apartments with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision realized.
"There's no proper healthcare, paved pathways or sewage systems and we have no places for kids to enjoy," says a tea vendor, 56, who relocated from his home state in the early eighties. "The single option is to clear the area and build us new homes."
Resident Opposition
But others, like the leather artisan, are opposing the plan.
Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. However they fear that this initiative – absent of resident participation – might transform valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, displacing the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.
This involved these excluded, migrant workers who built up the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose economic value is worth between one million dollars and a substantial sum annually, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.
Resettlement Issues
Among approximately one million people living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, a minority will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Others will be moved to wastelands and coastal regions on the remote edges of Mumbai, threatening to divide a historic community. Some will receive no housing at all.
People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be provided flats in high-rise buildings, a major break from the evolved, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has supported Dharavi for many years.
Industries from tailoring to pottery and recycling are expected to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "commercial zone" distant from homes.
Livelihood Crisis
For residents like the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation resident to live in the slum, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-floor facility produces apparel – sharp blazers, suede trenches, decorated jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and internationally.
Relatives lives in the accommodations below and his workers and tailors – migrants from different regions – reside in the same building, permitting him to afford their labour. Away from this community, housing costs are typically significantly more expensive for basic accommodation.
Threats and Warning
Within the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project depicts an alternative perspective. Slickly dressed inhabitants move around on cycles and electric vehicles, buying continental bread and pastries and socializing on a patio adjacent to a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that supports the neighborhood.
"This isn't progress for us," explains the protester. "This constitutes a massive land development that will price people out for our community to continue."
Additionally, there exists concern of the development company. Headed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has encountered allegations of favoritism and questionable practices, which it denies.
Even as the state government calls it a joint project, the corporation contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings claiming that the project was questionably assigned to the business group is under review in the top court.
Continued Intimidation
From when they initiated to vocally oppose the project, Shaikh and other residents state they have been subjected to an extended period of harassment and intimidation – involving communications, explicit warnings and implications that opposing the initiative was equivalent to opposing national interests – by individuals they allege work for the corporate group.
Part of the group alleged to have issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c
