Across several weeks, coercive messages recurred. At first, allegedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, later from the police themselves. Finally, one resident states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.
Shaikh is one of many resisting a expensive initiative where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be razed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.
"The culture of the slum is exceptional in the world," says the protester. "However they want to dismantle our community and prevent our protests."
Contrasting Realities
The dank gullies of this community sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that overshadow the neighborhood. Dwellings are constructed informally and often missing basic amenities, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the environment is saturated with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.
For certain residents, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of luxury high-rises, neat parks, contemporary malls and homes with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.
"There's no proper healthcare, paved pathways or drainage and there are no spaces for children to play," states a tea vendor, in his fifties, who relocated from southern India in that period. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."
Resident Opposition
However, some, such as this protester, are opposing the plan.
Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, historically ignored as informal housing, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. Yet they are concerned that this initiative – without resident participation – could potentially turn premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have resided there since the nineteenth century.
It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who developed the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and business activity, whose output is worth between a significant amount and a substantial sum annually, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.
Displacement Concerns
Among approximately a million inhabitants living in the crowded 220-hectare area, fewer than half will be able for alternative accommodation in the project, which is projected to take seven years to accomplish. Others will be relocated to barren areas and saline fields on the distant periphery of the city, threatening to divide a long-established neighborhood. Some will be denied homes at all.
Those allowed to continue living in Dharavi will be provided apartments in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the natural, communal way of residing and operating that has maintained this area for generations.
Commercial activities from tailoring to ceramic crafts and material recovery are expected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to a designated "business area" far from residential areas.
Survival Challenge
For residents like Shaikh, a leather artisan and multi-generational of his family to call home the slum, the project presents an existential threat. His rickety, multi-level facility makes garments – tailored coats, luxury coats, decorated jackets – distributed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and internationally.
Relatives lives in the accommodations downstairs and laborers and tailors – workers from different regions – also sleep in the same building, allowing him to manage costs. Outside the slum, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times costlier for a single room.
Threats and Warning
Within the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative shows an alternative perspective. Well-groomed residents move around on cycles and electric vehicles, buying continental bread and breakfast items and enlisting beverages on a terrace outside a coffee shop and treat station. This depicts a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that maintains local residents.
"This represents no improvement for our community," says Shaikh. "It represents an enormous real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."
Furthermore, there's distrust of the business conglomerate. Headed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has encountered allegations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.
While local authorities describes it as a partnership, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. A case alleging that the initiative was improperly granted to the business group is under review in India's supreme court.
Continued Intimidation
From when they initiated to actively protest the development, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been experienced ongoing efforts of coercion and warning – including messages, direct threats and suggestions that opposing the initiative was comparable with speaking against the country – by people they claim work for the corporate group.
Included in these suspected of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c
