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Over an extended period, intimidating messages recurred. Originally, reportedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, and then from the authorities. In the end, one resident claims he was ordered to the local precinct and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is part of a group fighting a multimillion-dollar project where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces demolished and transformed by a large business group.

"The culture of this area is like nowhere else in the world," says Shaikh. "However they want to dismantle our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and elite residences that loom over the neighborhood. Homes are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the environment is permeated by the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and homes with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream come true.

"We lack sufficient health services, roads or drainage and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," states a chai seller, in his fifties, who migrated from southern India in that period. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

But others, including Shaikh, are resisting the plan.

All recognize that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. Yet they fear that this initiative – absent of public consultation – could potentially convert valuable urban land into a luxury development, forcing out the marginalized, immigrant populations who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, migrant workers who built up the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and a substantial sum annually, making it a major unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about a million people living in the crowded 220-hectare neighborhood, fewer than half will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take a significant period to accomplish. The remainder will be moved to barren areas and salt plains on the distant periphery of Mumbai, potentially divide a long-established neighborhood. A portion will be denied residences at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the neighborhood will be allocated apartments in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the natural, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has sustained Dharavi for many years.

Industries from clothing production to pottery and waste processing are likely to reduce in scale and be moved to an allocated "business area" separated from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of Shaikh, a leather artisan and long-time inhabitant to live in the slum, the project presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey facility creates garments – sharp blazers, luxury coats, fashionable garments – distributed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

His family lives in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and tailors – migrants from north India – reside on-site, enabling him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, accommodation prices are often 10 times as high for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the administrative buildings close by, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative depicts an alternative perspective. Well-groomed people gather on cycles and e-vehicles, acquiring continental bread and pastries and enlisting beverages on a terrace outside a coffee shop and dessert parlor. This depicts a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

"This represents no development for residents," states the protester. "It's a massive real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the development company. Run by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Although administrative bodies describes it as a joint project, the corporation invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. Legal proceedings stating that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the business group is under review in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to actively protest the project, protesters and community members state they have been faced a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – involving messages, clear intimidation and suggestions that criticizing the initiative was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they assert represent the developer.

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