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Across several weeks, threatening communications continued. Initially, reportedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, later from law enforcement directly. Finally, a local artisan claims he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is part of a group resisting a high-value initiative where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces bulldozed and transformed by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is exceptional in the globe," explains the protester. "Yet they want to eradicate our way of life and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of this community present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the area. Homes are constructed informally and frequently without proper sanitation, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is saturated with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

To some, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and homes with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream come true.

"We lack proper healthcare, paved pathways or drainage and we have no places for children to play," explains A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from southern India in the early eighties. "The single option is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, like Shaikh, are opposing the redevelopment.

All recognize that the slum, historically ignored as informal housing, is in stark need economic input and modernization. However they fear that this plan – absent of resident participation – might convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, displacing the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have been there since the late 1800s.

It was these shunned, relocated individuals who built up the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of community resilience and commercial output, whose production is valued at between $1m and $2m per year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly 1 million inhabitants living in the crowded 220-hectare zone, fewer than half will be able for replacement housing in the development, which is estimated to take seven years to complete. Others will be moved to wastelands and saline fields on the far outskirts of the metropolis, threatening to break up a historic community. A portion will receive no homes at all.

Those allowed to remain in Dharavi will be given flats in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has sustained Dharavi for many years.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are expected to decrease in quantity and be relocated to an allocated "business area" distant from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like the leather artisan, a workshop owner and multi-generational inhabitant to call home this community, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His rickety, three-storey facility creates apparel – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Household members resides in the spaces below and his workers and garment workers – workers from different regions – also sleep in the same building, enabling him to afford their labour. Away from this community, housing costs are often 10 times more expensive for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

Within the administrative buildings close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project shows a very different perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants move around on cycles and electric vehicles, buying continental baguettes and croissants and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area near a restaurant and dessert parlor. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that sustains local residents.

"This is not progress for our community," states the artisan. "It's a massive land development that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's concern of the development company. Headed by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

While administrative bodies describes it as a collaborative effort, the developer paid nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings stating that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to actively protest the redevelopment, local opponents assert they have been experienced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – comprising communications, direct threats and suggestions that criticizing the project was equivalent to opposing national interests – by figures they claim work for the business conglomerate.

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