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Across several weeks, coercive phone calls recurred. Initially, reportedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, subsequently from the police themselves. Finally, one resident asserts he was ordered to the police station and instructed bluntly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is part of a group opposing a high-value initiative where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be demolished and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The culture of Dharavi is exceptional in the globe," explains the protester. "But the plan aims to eradicate our community and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of this community present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that overshadow the neighborhood. Homes are assembled randomly and typically lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is filled with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

For certain residents, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and residences with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision achieved.

"We lack proper healthcare, proper streets or sewage systems and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states a chai seller, 56, who relocated from his home state in that period. "The only way is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, including this protester, are resisting the plan.

All recognize that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they are concerned that this project – lacking resident participation – could potentially transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, evicting the marginalized, migrant communities who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who developed the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose output is worth between a significant amount and $2m a year, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Out of about 1 million people living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be eligible for new homes in the redevelopment, which is projected to take a significant period to finish. The remainder will be moved to barren areas and saline fields on the remote edges of the metropolis, threatening to break up a historic social network. Certain individuals will be denied homes at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the area will be provided units in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has sustained the community for so long.

Commercial activities from clothing production to clay work and waste processing are expected to reduce in scale and be moved to an allocated "business area" separated from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as the leather artisan, a workshop owner and multi-generational resident to live in Dharavi, the plan presents an existential threat. His rickety, three-floor workshop makes leather coats – tailored coats, suede trenches, decorated jackets – distributed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives lives in the spaces downstairs and employees and tailors – workers from north India – live in the same building, permitting him to afford their labour. Outside the slum, accommodation prices are often 10 times more expensive for a single room.

Threats and Warning

In the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan depicts a very different outlook. Well-groomed residents move around on cycles and eco-friendly transport, buying international bread and breakfast items and having coffee on a patio outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. This represents a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

"This isn't progress for our community," states the artisan. "It's a massive property transaction that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

There is also concern of the development company. Run by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the national leader – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Although local authorities describes it as a joint project, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit alleging that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the business group is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – comprising phone calls, direct threats and insinuations that criticizing the development was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they allege represent the business conglomerate.

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