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Over an extended period, coercive messages continued. Initially, allegedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, later from the police themselves. In the end, a local artisan claims he was ordered to the local precinct and warned explicitly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is one of many resisting a multimillion-dollar initiative where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces bulldozed and transformed by a large business group.

"The culture of Dharavi is exceptional in the globe," explains Shaikh. "However they want to destroy our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of this community sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that overshadow the neighborhood. Dwellings are built haphazardly and typically without proper sanitation, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is permeated by the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and homes with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, roads or drainage and we have no places for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from southern India in that period. "The sole solution is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are resisting the plan.

All recognize that Dharavi, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring investment and development. But they are concerned that this plan – absent of community input – is one that will transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, forcing out the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have been there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these marginalized, migrant workers who established the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and commercial output, whose economic value is worth between a significant amount and a substantial sum annually, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly one million people living in the dense 220-hectare area, a minority will be qualified for new homes in the project, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Additional residents will be moved to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the distant periphery of the city, potentially divide a long-established neighborhood. A portion will not get residences at all.

People eligible to stay in Dharavi will be allocated flats in high-rise buildings, a major break from the natural, shared lifestyle of living and working that has sustained Dharavi for many years.

Commercial activities from garment work to clay work and recycling are expected to reduce in scale and be transferred to a designated "commercial zone" distant from homes.

Survival Challenge

For those such as the leather artisan, a craftsman and third generation resident to call home Dharavi, the project presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, multi-level workshop produces leather coats – sharp blazers, suede trenches, decorated jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and internationally.

His family dwells in the spaces below and employees and tailors – laborers from north India – reside on-site, allowing him to afford their labour. Outside the slum, accommodation prices are often significantly more expensive for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the administrative buildings in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan depicts a very different outlook. Fashionable residents move around on cycles and eco-friendly transport, buying continental bread and croissants and socializing on an outdoor area outside Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This represents a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that supports the neighborhood.

"This is not development for residents," states the protester. "It represents an enormous land development that will price people out for our community to continue."

There is also distrust of the business conglomerate. Headed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the government head – the corporation has faced accusations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it disputes.

While local authorities describes it as a partnership, the corporation contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings alleging that the project was unfairly awarded to the business group is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents state they have been faced an extended period of pressure and threats – involving phone calls, explicit warnings and suggestions that opposing the development was comparable with speaking against the country – by people they allege work for the developer.

Among those alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c