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Over an extended period, coercive phone calls persisted. Originally, reportedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, and then from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, one resident asserts he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is among those fighting a expensive project where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be demolished and modernized by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is exceptional in the world," states Shaikh. "However their intention is to dismantle our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of this community stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and elite residences that overshadow the settlement. Homes are assembled randomly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the environment is filled with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and apartments with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision realized.

"We lack sufficient health services, paved pathways or water management and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," says A Selvin Nadar, 56, who migrated from southern India in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

But others, including Shaikh, are fighting against the project.

None deny that this community, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they worry that this initiative – without public consultation – could potentially turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, forcing out the marginalized, immigrant populations who have resided there since the late 1800s.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who developed the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between one million dollars and a substantial sum a year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Out of about one million people living in the crowded 220-hectare area, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take a significant period to finish. Others will be relocated to barren areas and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the metropolis, threatening to fragment a long-established neighborhood. A portion will be denied housing at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the area will be given flats in high-rise buildings, a major break from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has maintained the community for so long.

Businesses from garment work to clay work and waste processing are projected to shrink in number and be relocated to an allocated "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.

Existential Threat

In the case of Shaikh, a leather artisan and long-time resident to reside in the slum, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey facility makes garments – tailored coats, luxury coats, decorated jackets – distributed in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the rooms below and his workers and sewers – workers from north India – also sleep there, enabling him to sustain operations. Outside this community, Mumbai rents are typically tenfold costlier for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

In the administrative buildings nearby, a visual representation of the Dharavi project depicts a very different vision for the future. Fashionable residents move around on cycles and eco-friendly transport, buying western-style baked goods and pastries and socializing on a patio outside Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This depicts a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that sustains the neighborhood.

"This isn't improvement for residents," says the protester. "It represents an enormous land development that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

There is also distrust of the corporate group. Headed by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

Although administrative bodies labels it a collaborative effort, the developer contributed a significant amount for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings claiming that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the corporation is under review in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the redevelopment, local opponents claim they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – comprising messages, explicit warnings and insinuations that criticizing the project was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by people they assert work for the business conglomerate.

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