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Across several weeks, threatening communications persisted. Originally, supposedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, and then from the authorities. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is part of a group resisting a high-value redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be demolished and transformed by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is exceptional in the world," explains the resident. "But they want to destroy our way of life and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of this community stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that overshadow the area. Homes are constructed informally and typically missing basic amenities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, neat parks, contemporary malls and residences with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision realized.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or drainage and we have no places for youth to recreate," says a chai seller, in his fifties, who moved from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The sole solution is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, such as this protester, are resisting the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring investment and development. Yet they fear that this plan – absent of public consultation – is one that will convert valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have been there since generations ago.

This involved these shunned, displaced people who established the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose production is worth between one million dollars and $2m annually, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately a million residents living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take a significant period to accomplish. Others will be transferred to barren areas and coastal regions on the distant periphery of Mumbai, potentially break up a generations-old social network. Some will not get residences at all.

Residents permitted to continue living in the neighborhood will be allocated units in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the organic, collective approach of living and working that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and material recovery are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "commercial zone" far from homes.

Survival Challenge

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and multi-generational resident to call home Dharavi, the project presents an existential threat. His informal, three-storey facility makes apparel – tailored coats, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – distributed in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Relatives resides in the accommodations underneath and laborers and garment workers – laborers from different regions – live on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Outside the slum, housing costs are frequently significantly as high for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the government offices nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative depicts an alternative outlook. Fashionable residents move around on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, buying western-style bread and breakfast items and socializing on an outdoor area adjacent to a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

"This isn't progress for residents," states Shaikh. "It's a huge real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

There is also skepticism of the corporate group. Run by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Although the state government calls it a partnership, the developer invested a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings alleging that the initiative was questionably assigned to the business group is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to vocally oppose the redevelopment, local opponents assert they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – involving communications, direct threats and insinuations that opposing the initiative was comparable with opposing national interests – by figures they claim represent the developer.

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