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Over an extended period, coercive phone calls continued. Initially, allegedly from a retired cop and a former defense officer, subsequently from the police themselves. In the end, a local artisan states he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is one of many fighting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be demolished and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of this area is unparalleled in the world," explains the resident. "But they want to dismantle our way of life and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and elite residences that dominate the neighborhood. Dwellings are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the environment is permeated by the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and apartments with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or sewage systems and we have no places for children to play," states a chai seller, 56, who moved from southern India in 1982. "The only way is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

But others, such as the leather artisan, are fighting against the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, historically ignored as informal housing, is in stark need economic input and modernization. Yet they are concerned that this initiative – without resident participation – is one that will turn premium city property into a playground for the rich, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have been there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these excluded, relocated individuals who built up the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and a substantial sum a year, making it a major informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly 1 million inhabitants living in the dense 220-hectare area, less than 50% will be qualified for new homes in the project, which is estimated to take seven years to accomplish. Additional residents will be relocated to barren areas and saline fields on the remote edges of Mumbai, potentially divide a generations-old neighborhood. Some will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be provided apartments in tower blocks, a major break from the evolved, collective approach of residing and operating that has maintained this area for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and recycling are expected to shrink in number and be moved to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from people's residences.

Existential Threat

In the case of Shaikh, a craftsman and third generation inhabitant to live in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His informal, three-storey operation makes apparel – tailored coats, luxury coats, decorated jackets – sold in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

Household members resides in the rooms downstairs and employees and garment workers – laborers from other states – reside in the same building, allowing him to afford their labour. Outside the slum, Mumbai rents are typically 10 times more expensive for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project shows a contrasting vision for the future. Fashionable inhabitants move around on bicycles and electric vehicles, purchasing continental bread and croissants and having coffee on a terrace outside a restaurant and treat station. This represents a world away from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

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

Additionally, there exists concern of the corporate group. Managed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the government head – the corporation has encountered allegations of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Even as administrative bodies describes it as a joint project, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. Legal proceedings claiming that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been experienced a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – including phone calls, explicit warnings and insinuations that opposing the initiative was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they claim work for the corporate group.

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