An offer of partnership or a promise of conflict in Dharavi, Mumbai?

Abstract

The first part of this paper, by Sheela Patel, provides a backdrop to Jockin's letter about the current government plans to redevelop Dharavi, a large inner-city township within Mumbai with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants and tens of thousands of enterprises. The second part is the text of an open letter by Jockin Arputham from the National Slum Dwellers Federation to the government and private developers that was released to the press in June 2007 and that received widespread coverage in newspapers and other media around the world. This open letter is an offer of partnership in such redevelopments from the organizations and federations of slum dwellers in Mumbai and elsewhere to government agencies and developers. But it is also a warning of the disruptions that the slum dwellers will bring if they are not involved in the planning and implementation of such redevelopments.