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Over an extended period, threatening communications persisted. Initially, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, later from the police themselves. Ultimately, one resident states he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and warned explicitly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is among those fighting a multimillion-dollar project where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be razed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is unparalleled in the globe," says the protester. "But their intention is to dismantle our community and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of the slum present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the settlement. Residences are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is permeated by the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

For certain residents, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, neat parks, modern retail complexes and homes with two toilets is an optimistic future achieved.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or drainage and we have no places for youth to recreate," states a tea vendor, fifty-six, who migrated from southern India in that period. "The single option is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, including Shaikh, are fighting against the plan.

None deny that the slum, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is urgently needing economic input and modernization. But they are concerned that this project – lacking community input – might convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, displacing the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have resided there since the late 1800s.

It was these marginalized, migrant workers who developed the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and commercial output, whose output is worth between a significant amount and two million dollars a year, making it a major unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly a million inhabitants living in the packed sprawling area, fewer than half will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is expected to take a significant period to complete. Others will be relocated to wastelands and saline fields on the far outskirts of Mumbai, threatening to break up a generations-old community. A portion will not get residences at all.

People eligible to remain in the area will be provided units in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the evolved, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has sustained this area for many years.

Industries from garment work to clay work and recycling are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "industrial sector" far from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as Shaikh, a craftsman and multi-generational of his family to call home this community, the project presents a survival challenge. His rickety, multi-level facility makes apparel – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – sold in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

His family dwells in the rooms below and laborers and tailors – laborers from other states – also sleep there, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from this community, Mumbai rents are often significantly as high for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

Within the government offices close by, a visual representation of the Dharavi project depicts an alternative outlook. Slickly dressed people move around on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, buying western-style baguettes and croissants and socializing on a terrace adjacent to a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This represents a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that maintains the neighborhood.

"This isn't development for our community," explains the protester. "It represents a massive real estate deal that will price people out for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the corporate group. Managed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the national leader – the business group has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Although local authorities describes it as a collaborative effort, the business group invested a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings claiming that the initiative was improperly granted to the business group is pending in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, protesters and community members state they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – including phone calls, clear intimidation and implications that speaking against the development was equivalent to speaking against the country – by people they claim work for the developer.

Included in these suspected of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c