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Across several weeks, coercive communications persisted. At first, reportedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, and then from the authorities. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was called to the local precinct and warned explicitly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is one of many opposing a high-value initiative where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – faces demolished and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of this area is unparalleled in the planet," explains Shaikh. "Yet they want to destroy our way of life and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of this community present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that dominate the settlement. Homes are constructed informally and frequently without proper sanitation, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of luxury high-rises, neat parks, modern retail complexes and residences with two toilets is an optimistic future come true.

"There's no sufficient health services, proper streets or sewage systems and there's nowhere for children to play," states a tea vendor, 56, who relocated from southern India in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

However, some, including this protester, are fighting against the redevelopment.

All recognize that this community, long neglected as informal housing, is urgently needing economic input and modernization. Yet they worry that this project – lacking public consultation – could potentially turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, working-class residents who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these excluded, relocated individuals who developed the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and business activity, whose output is valued at between one million dollars and $2m annually, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately one million inhabitants living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer area, less than 50% will be eligible for new homes in the project, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to finish. The remainder will be transferred to barren areas and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, risking divide a generations-old neighborhood. Some will receive no residences at all.

Those allowed to remain in the neighborhood will be given apartments in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the natural, communal way of living and working that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Industries from clothing production to pottery and recycling are expected to shrink in number and be transferred to a specific "commercial zone" separated from homes.

Existential Threat

For those such as Shaikh, a leather artisan and multi-generational resident to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His rickety, three-storey operation makes leather coats – formal jackets, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Household members resides in the spaces below and his workers and sewers – migrants from north India – live on-site, permitting him to afford their labour. Beyond this community, housing costs are frequently tenfold as high for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the government offices nearby, a conceptual model of the transformation initiative shows a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed people mill about on cycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring international baked goods and breakfast items and socializing on a terrace outside Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This represents a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that supports the neighborhood.

"This represents no improvement for us," says the artisan. "It represents a huge land development that will price people out for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the business conglomerate. Managed by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and an associate of the national leader – the business group has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it denies.

Although administrative bodies describes it as a partnership, the developer contributed a significant amount for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings alleging that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the business group is pending in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to publicly resist the development, Shaikh and other residents state they have been faced ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – comprising messages, clear intimidation and suggestions that criticizing the development was tantamount to speaking against the country – by individuals they allege work for the developer.

Part of the group suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c