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Over an extended period, intimidating phone calls recurred. Initially, supposedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, subsequently from the police themselves. Ultimately, a local artisan states he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is one of many resisting a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is exceptional in the world," explains the resident. "However they want to eradicate our social fabric and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of this community stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that loom over the neighborhood. Dwellings are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and apartments with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision achieved.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or drainage and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," explains A Selvin Nadar, 56, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The only way is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Local Protest

However, some, like this protester, are opposing the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, long neglected as informal housing, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. However they fear that this plan – without resident participation – is one that will transform valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, displacing the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have lived there since the late 1800s.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who built up the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and economic productivity, whose output is worth between a significant amount and two million dollars a year, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately a million people living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be able for new homes in the project, which is projected to take seven years to accomplish. The remainder will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the city, risking fragment a long-established social network. A portion will not get homes at all.

People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be provided units in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the natural, communal way of residing and operating that has supported the community for generations.

Industries from garment work to pottery and waste processing are expected to shrink in number and be transferred to a specific "commercial zone" far from homes.

Existential Threat

In the case of this protester, a leather artisan and long-time of his family to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor workshop creates leather coats – formal jackets, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – distributed in premium stores in south Mumbai and overseas.

Household members lives in the accommodations underneath and employees and sewers – workers from north India – live in the same building, enabling him to manage costs. Away from Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are frequently 10 times more expensive for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

At the official facilities close by, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative shows a contrasting vision for the future. Well-groomed residents mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, purchasing western-style baked goods and pastries and having coffee on an outdoor area adjacent to a coffee shop and dessert parlor. This represents a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This represents no improvement for our community," explains the artisan. "It represents a huge property transaction that will price people out for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the development company. Run by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a close ally of the national leader – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it denies.

While local authorities calls it a collaborative effort, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. A lawsuit claiming that the project was questionably assigned to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

After they started to publicly resist the project, local opponents state they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and suggestions that speaking against the development was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by figures they assert work for the corporate group.

Among those suspected of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c