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Over an extended period, intimidating communications persisted. Initially, reportedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. Ultimately, one resident asserts he was ordered to the police station and warned explicitly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many opposing a multimillion-dollar project where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces razed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is exceptional in the world," says Shaikh. "However the plan aims to eradicate our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of the slum sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and elite residences that overshadow the neighborhood. Dwellings are constructed informally and often lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the environment is permeated by the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and homes with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future achieved.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or water management and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, fifty-six, who moved from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The only way is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

But others, such as the leather artisan, are opposing the redevelopment.

None deny that Dharavi, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing investment and development. Yet they are concerned that this project – lacking community input – might convert valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, forcing out the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

It was these excluded, displaced people who established the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between one million dollars and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately 1 million residents living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer zone, a minority will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Others will be relocated to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the distant periphery of the metropolis, potentially divide a historic neighborhood. Certain individuals will be denied housing at all.

Those allowed to stay in the area will be allocated apartments in tower blocks, a significant rupture from the organic, communal way of residing and operating that has sustained Dharavi for many years.

Industries from garment work to clay work and material recovery are projected to decrease in quantity and be moved to a designated "industrial sector" far from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like this protester, a craftsman and multi-generational of his family to call home the slum, the project presents an existential threat. His rickety, three-floor operation creates garments – formal jackets, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – distributed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

Relatives resides in the accommodations underneath and laborers and sewers – workers from different regions – also sleep in the same building, permitting him to manage costs. Away from the slum, Mumbai rents are typically 10 times as high for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

Within the administrative buildings nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan illustrates an alternative vision for the future. Well-groomed inhabitants mill about on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, purchasing continental baked goods and pastries and enlisting beverages on a terrace near a restaurant and dessert parlor. This represents a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't development for our community," explains the protester. "This constitutes a huge real estate deal that will price people out for us to survive."

There is also distrust of the business conglomerate. Managed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the national leader – the business group has encountered allegations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

While administrative bodies calls it a collaborative effort, the developer invested nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit alleging that the initiative was questionably assigned to the business group is under review in the top court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to vocally oppose the development, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – including messages, clear intimidation and suggestions that speaking against the project was tantamount to opposing national interests – by individuals they assert represent the corporate group.

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