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Over an extended period, intimidating communications recurred. Originally, allegedly from a retired cop and a former defense officer, subsequently from the police themselves. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is among those opposing a multimillion-dollar initiative where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be demolished and modernized by a large business group.

"The culture of this area is unparalleled in the globe," explains Shaikh. "However the plan aims to eradicate our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of this community stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and elite residences that overshadow the area. Residences are built haphazardly and typically lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the air is permeated by the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of high-end towers, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and apartments with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream achieved.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or drainage and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states a chai seller, in his fifties, who migrated from his home state in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

But others, such as Shaikh, are resisting the plan.

None deny that the slum, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they worry that this plan – lacking resident participation – could potentially convert valuable urban land into a luxury development, displacing the marginalized, working-class residents who have lived there since the late 1800s.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who developed the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is worth between one million dollars and two million dollars a year, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately 1 million people living in the crowded 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be able for alternative accommodation in the project, which is expected to take seven years to finish. Others will be relocated to wastelands and saline fields on the far outskirts of Mumbai, risking fragment a long-established social network. A portion will receive no housing at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the area will be allocated units in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has maintained the community for many years.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and material recovery are projected to reduce in scale and be transferred to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of the leather artisan, a craftsman and third generation of his family to reside in this community, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-floor workshop produces garments – formal jackets, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Household members dwells in the accommodations downstairs and employees and sewers – laborers from other states – reside on-site, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are often significantly as high for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

At the administrative buildings in the vicinity, a visual representation of the transformation initiative shows a contrasting outlook. Fashionable residents move around on bicycles and e-vehicles, purchasing international baked goods and pastries and socializing on a terrace near a restaurant and dessert parlor. It is a world away from the affordable idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

"This represents no progress for our community," states the protester. "This constitutes an enormous real estate deal that will price people out for us to survive."

There is also concern of the development company. Headed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the national leader – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Although administrative bodies calls it a collaborative effort, the corporation paid $950m for its controlling interest. A case stating that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the corporation is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the redevelopment, protesters and community members claim they have been experienced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – comprising phone calls, direct threats and suggestions that criticizing the development was equivalent to speaking against the country – by figures they assert work for the developer.

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