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Over an extended period, coercive communications continued. Initially, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Finally, one resident asserts he was called to the local precinct and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many opposing a expensive project where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be razed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the planet," states the protester. "But they want to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that loom over the area. Dwellings are assembled randomly and typically lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is filled with the suffocating smell of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of luxury high-rises, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and apartments with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and we have no places for children to play," explains a chai seller, 56, who migrated from his home state in that period. "The only way is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

However, some, such as Shaikh, are resisting the redevelopment.

All recognize that the slum, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they worry that this plan – absent of community input – is one that will turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the lower-caste, working-class residents who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these excluded, relocated individuals who built up the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and commercial output, whose economic value is valued at between one million dollars and two million dollars annually, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about 1 million residents living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer area, less than 50% will be able for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take seven years to complete. Additional residents will be relocated to wastelands and salt plains on the distant periphery of the city, potentially break up a long-established social network. Some will be denied housing at all.

Those allowed to continue living in Dharavi will be given units in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the natural, communal way of living and working that has supported the community for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to ceramic crafts and waste processing are projected to shrink in number and be moved to an allocated "industrial sector" far from homes.

Survival Challenge

In the case of Shaikh, a workshop owner and multi-generational inhabitant to live in the slum, the project presents an existential threat. His makeshift, three-floor operation makes apparel – sharp blazers, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – marketed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and internationally.

Relatives dwells in the spaces downstairs and employees and garment workers – workers from different regions – also sleep on-site, permitting him to sustain operations. Away from the slum, housing costs are typically significantly more expensive for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the official facilities in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative depicts an alternative outlook. Fashionable inhabitants mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, purchasing continental baked goods and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area adjacent to a coffee shop and dessert parlor. This represents a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

"This is not improvement for residents," explains the artisan. "It's an enormous land development that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

There is also distrust of the corporate group. Run by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the national leader – the corporation has encountered allegations of favoritism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Although the state government describes it as a joint project, the developer invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. Legal proceedings claiming that the project was improperly granted to the business group is under review in the top court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to publicly resist the development, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been experienced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – comprising phone calls, explicit warnings and insinuations that opposing the initiative was comparable with opposing national interests – by people they assert represent the corporate group.

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