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Across several weeks, threatening communications continued. Originally, supposedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, later from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was called to the police station and warned explicitly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is part of a group opposing a expensive project where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be bulldozed and modernized by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the planet," explains the resident. "However they want to destroy our social fabric and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of the slum sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that loom over the settlement. Dwellings are assembled randomly and frequently without proper sanitation, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the air is permeated by the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and apartments with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future come true.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or sewage systems and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," states a tea vendor, fifty-six, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

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

All recognize that this community, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need economic input and modernization. But they fear that this initiative – absent of public consultation – could potentially convert premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the lower-caste, working-class residents who have been there since the nineteenth century.

These were these marginalized, migrant workers who established the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose output is worth between $1m and $2m a year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately one million inhabitants living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, less than 50% will be able for replacement housing in the project, which is estimated to take seven years to accomplish. The remainder will be moved to barren areas and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, risking divide a generations-old community. A portion will not get residences at all.

People eligible to stay in the area will be allocated apartments in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the organic, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has sustained this area for many years.

Commercial activities from garment work to pottery and material recovery are likely to shrink in number and be moved to a designated "commercial zone" separated from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

In the case of the leather artisan, a leather artisan and long-time resident to reside in the slum, the plan presents an existential threat. His informal, multi-level workshop makes garments – formal jackets, luxury coats, decorated jackets – sold in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives lives in the rooms downstairs and laborers and garment workers – workers from other states – live on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Beyond this community, accommodation prices are typically tenfold more expensive for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the official facilities in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan illustrates a contrasting perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants move around on cycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring continental baguettes and pastries and having coffee on an outdoor area near a coffee shop and treat station. This represents a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This represents no progress for residents," states the artisan. "This constitutes a huge land development that will render it impossible for us to survive."

There is also distrust of the development company. Managed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

While the state government calls it a joint project, the business group paid $950m for its majority share. Legal proceedings alleging that the project was unfairly awarded to the developer is under review in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to actively protest the redevelopment, local opponents assert they have been faced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – comprising communications, clear intimidation and suggestions that opposing the initiative was comparable with speaking against the country – by individuals they claim are associated with the business conglomerate.

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