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Over an extended period, coercive messages persisted. At first, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, subsequently from the police themselves. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is among those resisting a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be demolished and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is unparalleled in the world," states the protester. "However the plan aims to dismantle our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of this community stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that loom over the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and frequently without proper sanitation, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the air is filled with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

For certain residents, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or drainage and there are no spaces for children to play," states A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from southern India in the early eighties. "The only way is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, like Shaikh, are fighting against the project.

None deny that the slum, long neglected as informal housing, is desperately requiring investment and development. Yet they worry that this plan – without resident participation – is one that will turn premium city property into a luxury development, displacing the lower-caste, migrant communities who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these shunned, relocated individuals who established the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of community resilience and commercial output, whose production is valued at between a significant amount and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about a million people living in the crowded 220-hectare area, a minority will be able for alternative accommodation in the development, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. The remainder will be relocated to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the far outskirts of Mumbai, potentially break up a long-established community. Certain individuals will not get homes at all.

People eligible to stay in the area will be given apartments in high-rise buildings, a major break from the natural, communal way of living and working that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to clay work and waste processing are projected to reduce in scale and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" far from people's residences.

Existential Threat

In the case of this protester, a workshop owner and long-time inhabitant to live in the slum, the project presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level facility makes garments – tailored coats, suede trenches, fashionable garments – distributed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Household members lives in the spaces underneath and employees and garment workers – laborers from different regions – also sleep on-site, allowing him to sustain operations. Beyond this community, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times as high for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project shows an alternative vision for the future. Slickly dressed residents mill about on bicycles and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style bread and pastries and having coffee on an outdoor area adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This represents a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that maintains the neighborhood.

"This isn't progress for residents," says Shaikh. "This constitutes a massive property transaction that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the corporate group. Managed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the government head – the corporation has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Even as local authorities describes it as a partnership, the corporation contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings claiming that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the developer is being considered in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to actively protest the project, local opponents state they have been experienced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving phone calls, direct threats and implications that criticizing the project was equivalent to opposing national interests – by figures they assert are associated with the corporate group.

Part of the group alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c