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Over an extended period, intimidating messages persisted. Initially, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, later from the police themselves. Finally, a local artisan states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is one of many resisting a high-value initiative where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be bulldozed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is unparalleled in the world," explains the resident. "But their intention is to dismantle our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that loom over the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the environment is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

To some, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, neat parks, modern retail complexes and apartments with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision realized.

"We lack sufficient health services, roads or drainage and there are no spaces for children to play," states A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who moved from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, like Shaikh, are fighting against the project.

All recognize that this community, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing investment and development. Yet they are concerned that this plan – without resident participation – is one that will convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the lower-caste, working-class residents who have lived there since generations ago.

This involved these shunned, displaced people who built up the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose output is estimated at between a significant amount and a substantial sum per year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly 1 million residents living in the packed 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take a significant period to accomplish. Additional residents will be relocated to barren areas and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, risking fragment a historic neighborhood. Certain individuals will be denied housing at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be given flats in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of residing and operating that has sustained Dharavi for many years.

Businesses from clothing production to pottery and waste processing are likely to shrink in number and be transferred to a specific "commercial zone" separated from homes.

Existential Threat

For those such as the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation inhabitant to call home this community, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey operation produces apparel – tailored coats, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – sold in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

His family resides in the spaces underneath and his workers and tailors – workers from different regions – also sleep on-site, allowing him to sustain operations. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are typically tenfold as high for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the government offices in the vicinity, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan shows a very different outlook. Well-groomed residents move around on bicycles and e-vehicles, buying western-style bread and pastries and socializing on a terrace outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. It is a world away from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that supports Dharavi's community.

"This is not development for our community," says the artisan. "This constitutes an enormous property transaction that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

There is also skepticism of the business conglomerate. Managed by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the government head – the conglomerate has faced accusations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Even as the state government calls it a collaborative effort, the business group contributed $950m for its majority share. Legal proceedings stating that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is under review in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to actively protest the project, local opponents claim they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – including phone calls, explicit warnings and implications that criticizing the development was comparable with opposing national interests – by figures they allege are associated with the business conglomerate.

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