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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls recurred. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, later from the authorities. Ultimately, one resident asserts he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is one of many fighting a multimillion-dollar project where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be demolished and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is unparalleled in the globe," states the protester. "But the plan aims to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and elite residences that loom over the settlement. Homes are built haphazardly and often missing basic amenities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the environment is saturated with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream achieved.

"There's no proper healthcare, proper streets or water management and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," explains A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from southern India in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

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

All recognize that this community, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing investment and development. But they fear that this initiative – lacking public consultation – might convert valuable urban land into a luxury development, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have resided there since the late 1800s.

This involved these shunned, migrant workers who established the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and commercial output, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and $2m per year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately one million people living in the packed sprawling neighborhood, less than 50% will be qualified for replacement housing in the development, which is expected to take a significant period to accomplish. The remainder will be transferred to barren areas and saline fields on the distant periphery of the metropolis, risking break up a historic community. Some will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in the area will be provided units in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of living and working that has supported Dharavi for so long.

Industries from tailoring to clay work and material recovery are likely to reduce in scale and be moved to a specific "commercial zone" separated from people's residences.

Existential Threat

For residents like this protester, a leather artisan and multi-generational resident to call home this community, the plan presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, multi-level workshop creates leather coats – tailored coats, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – distributed in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Relatives lives in the spaces below and employees and sewers – laborers from other states – live on-site, allowing him to afford their labour. Beyond this community, Mumbai rents are frequently tenfold costlier for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative illustrates an alternative perspective. Well-groomed residents move around on cycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring continental baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on a patio near a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

"This represents no improvement for our community," explains Shaikh. "It's a huge land development that will render it impossible for us to survive."

There is also concern of the business conglomerate. Headed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the government head – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Although local authorities describes it as a joint project, the developer contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. A case alleging that the project was unfairly awarded to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to actively protest the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents state they have been experienced a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising phone calls, clear intimidation and implications that speaking against the development was equivalent to speaking against the country – by figures they assert work for the developer.

Part of the group accused of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c