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For months, coercive communications continued. Initially, reportedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. Finally, a local artisan asserts he was called to the police station and warned explicitly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is part of a group resisting a expensive redevelopment plan where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces bulldozed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of the slum is unparalleled in the world," says the resident. "Yet the plan aims to dismantle our way of life and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of the slum sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and elite residences that dominate the neighborhood. Homes are built haphazardly and frequently without proper sanitation, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

To some, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and apartments with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future realized.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, roads or sewage systems and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," explains a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from his home state in 1982. "The single option is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

However, some, including Shaikh, are fighting against the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. Yet they worry that this initiative – without community input – is one that will transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, forcing out the lower-caste, migrant communities who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these excluded, migrant workers who developed the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and business activity, whose output is worth between $1m and two million dollars a year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about a million residents living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer zone, less than 50% will be able for new homes in the project, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Additional residents will be moved to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the remote edges of Mumbai, potentially break up a generations-old community. A portion will not get housing at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the neighborhood will be allocated flats in multi-story structures, a major break from the natural, collective approach of living and working that has supported Dharavi for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to ceramic crafts and waste processing are projected to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "business area" distant from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

For those such as Shaikh, a leather artisan and third generation resident to reside in this community, the project presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor operation produces leather coats – sharp blazers, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – distributed in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and internationally.

His family lives in the accommodations underneath and his workers and tailors – workers from north India – live there, allowing him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, Mumbai rents are typically 10 times costlier for a single room.

Threats and Warning

Within the government offices nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative shows a contrasting perspective. Fashionable people gather on cycles and electric vehicles, purchasing continental baked goods and pastries and enlisting beverages on a terrace adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. It is a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This is not progress for our community," explains the protester. "It's a massive property transaction that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the development company. Run by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a close ally of the national leader – the corporation has encountered allegations of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Although the state government describes it as a partnership, the developer paid a significant amount for its controlling interest. A lawsuit alleging that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to actively protest the development, protesters and community members assert they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising phone calls, direct threats and suggestions that criticizing the initiative was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they claim work for the corporate group.

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