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For months, threatening messages persisted. Initially, reportedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, subsequently from the police themselves. In the end, one resident asserts he was called to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is part of a group opposing a high-value initiative where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be bulldozed and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is exceptional in the world," explains Shaikh. "However they want to dismantle our community and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of the slum present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and elite residences that overshadow the area. Residences are constructed informally and typically missing basic amenities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is filled with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

For certain residents, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and apartments with two toilets is an aspirational dream come true.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, proper streets or water management and there's nowhere for children to play," explains a chai seller, 56, who moved from his home state in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, such as Shaikh, are resisting the plan.

All recognize that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need investment and development. But they worry that this project – lacking resident participation – might turn premium city property into a luxury development, forcing out the lower-caste, working-class residents who have lived there since the late 1800s.

It was these excluded, relocated individuals who built up the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between one million dollars and a substantial sum annually, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly 1 million inhabitants living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer zone, fewer than half will be able for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to complete. Others will be transferred to wastelands and salt plains on the far outskirts of Mumbai, potentially fragment a long-established social network. Certain individuals will be denied homes at all.

Those allowed to stay in the area will be allocated apartments in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of living and working that has supported this area for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and recycling are likely to reduce in scale and be transferred to a designated "commercial zone" distant from homes.

Survival Challenge

For residents like Shaikh, a leather artisan and multi-generational of his family to call home this community, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His informal, three-floor workshop creates apparel – formal jackets, luxury coats, decorated jackets – marketed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

His family resides in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and tailors – migrants from other states – reside on-site, permitting him to afford their labour. Outside Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are often tenfold as high for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

Within the official facilities close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project shows a very different outlook. Well-groomed people mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, purchasing international bread and pastries and having coffee on a terrace outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. This represents a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't improvement for residents," says the artisan. "It represents an enormous real estate deal that will price people out for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists concern of the development company. Managed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the national leader – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Even as local authorities calls it a collaborative effort, the developer invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. Legal proceedings alleging that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been experienced ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – including messages, direct threats and implications that opposing the development was tantamount to opposing national interests – by figures they allege represent the developer.

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