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For months, threatening communications recurred. Originally, supposedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, and then from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was ordered to the police station and warned explicitly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is part of a group fighting a high-value initiative where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces demolished and modernized by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is unparalleled in the planet," says the resident. "Yet the plan aims to dismantle our community and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of the slum sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the settlement. Homes are constructed informally and frequently lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the air is permeated by the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

To some, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.

"We lack proper healthcare, roads or water management and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, fifty-six, who moved from southern India in 1982. "The single option is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

But others, including Shaikh, are opposing the plan.

All recognize that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need economic input and modernization. Yet they fear that this project – lacking community input – is one that will turn premium city property into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have been there since the late 1800s.

This involved these shunned, displaced people who built up the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and business activity, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly a million inhabitants living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, fewer than half will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to complete. Additional residents will be moved to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, potentially break up a long-established neighborhood. Certain individuals will be denied housing at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the area will be given flats in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has supported this area for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and recycling are projected to reduce in scale and be relocated to an allocated "business area" far from homes.

Survival Challenge

For those such as this protester, a craftsman and third generation resident to call home the slum, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His informal, three-floor facility produces leather coats – tailored coats, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and overseas.

Relatives lives in the rooms underneath and his workers and garment workers – workers from north India – reside in the same building, enabling him to sustain operations. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are typically significantly more expensive for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

In the government offices close by, a visual representation of the Dharavi project illustrates a contrasting perspective. Fashionable people move around on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, acquiring western-style bread and croissants and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that maintains local residents.

"This is not development for residents," explains the protester. "It's a huge land development that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's concern of the business conglomerate. Run by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it denies.

While local authorities calls it a joint project, the corporation contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. A case stating that the initiative was improperly granted to the business group is under review in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to actively protest the project, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been experienced a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising phone calls, direct threats and implications that opposing the development was tantamount to speaking against the country – by figures they claim represent the business conglomerate.

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