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Across several weeks, threatening communications recurred. At first, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, and then from the authorities. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is part of a group fighting a multimillion-dollar initiative where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be razed and transformed by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the world," states the protester. "Yet the plan aims to destroy our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of the slum sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that dominate the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and frequently without proper sanitation, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the environment is permeated by the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and residences with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or drainage and we have no places for kids to enjoy," explains a tea vendor, 56, who moved from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The single option is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, such as this protester, are opposing the project.

All recognize that the slum, long neglected as informal housing, is urgently needing investment and development. Yet they worry that this project – without resident participation – is one that will transform premium city property into a luxury development, displacing the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

This involved these excluded, migrant workers who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and commercial output, whose production is valued at between a significant amount and a substantial sum per year, making it a major unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately 1 million inhabitants living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, less than 50% will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take a significant period to finish. The remainder will be moved to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the distant periphery of the metropolis, potentially divide a historic community. Certain individuals will receive no residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the neighborhood will be provided flats in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of living and working that has sustained this area for many years.

Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and recycling are likely to decrease in quantity and be relocated to a designated "commercial zone" far from homes.

Survival Challenge

For residents like Shaikh, a craftsman and multi-generational of his family to call home Dharavi, the project presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-floor facility makes leather coats – sharp blazers, suede trenches, fashionable garments – sold in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and abroad.

Household members lives in the accommodations below and his workers and tailors – laborers from north India – reside in the same building, enabling him to afford their labour. Outside the slum, housing costs are frequently tenfold as high for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project illustrates an alternative perspective. Well-groomed people move around on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, acquiring continental baguettes and croissants and enlisting beverages on a terrace outside Dharavi Cafe and dessert parlor. This depicts a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't improvement for us," says Shaikh. "It represents an enormous real estate deal that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

There is also distrust of the business conglomerate. Managed by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Although the state government calls it a partnership, the business group contributed $950m for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings stating that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, local opponents assert they have been experienced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – involving communications, explicit warnings and suggestions that opposing the development was tantamount to speaking against the country – by figures they claim represent the corporate group.

Among those accused of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c