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Over an extended period, intimidating communications continued. Originally, allegedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, later from the police themselves. Finally, one resident asserts he was ordered to the police station and warned explicitly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is among those fighting a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be razed and transformed by a large business group.

"The culture of the slum is unparalleled in the world," explains the resident. "Yet the plan aims to eradicate our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of the slum present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and elite residences that dominate the area. Residences are assembled randomly and typically lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the environment is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

For certain residents, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and apartments with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future come true.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or drainage and there are no spaces for children to play," states a chai seller, fifty-six, who relocated from his home state in the early eighties. "The only way is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

However, some, including Shaikh, are resisting the project.

All recognize that this community, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing investment and development. But they are concerned that this project – without resident participation – is one that will convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, forcing out the lower-caste, working-class residents who have been there since generations ago.

These were these excluded, relocated individuals who built up the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and business activity, whose output is worth between $1m and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about a million residents living in the dense 220-hectare neighborhood, a minority will be eligible for new homes in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take a significant period to finish. Others will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the remote edges of the metropolis, threatening to divide a historic community. A portion will receive no residences at all.

Those allowed to remain in Dharavi will be provided units in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of living and working that has maintained this area for many years.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and recycling are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" far from homes.

Survival Challenge

In the case of Shaikh, a leather artisan and third generation of his family to live in the slum, the project presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, three-floor operation creates leather coats – tailored coats, suede trenches, decorated jackets – sold in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

His family dwells in the rooms downstairs and laborers and sewers – laborers from different regions – reside in the same building, allowing him to sustain operations. Outside this community, Mumbai rents are typically significantly costlier for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan depicts an alternative perspective. Slickly dressed residents mill about on bicycles and e-vehicles, purchasing international bread and croissants and socializing on a terrace outside a coffee shop and treat station. This depicts a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that supports local residents.

"This is not progress for us," says the protester. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's concern of the development company. Run by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the national leader – the corporation has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

Even as local authorities labels it a joint project, the business group paid a significant amount for its 80% stake. A case claiming that the project was unfairly awarded to the business group is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

After they started to publicly resist the project, protesters and community members state they have been experienced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – involving communications, explicit warnings and insinuations that criticizing the project was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by figures they claim are associated with the business conglomerate.

Among those suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c