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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls persisted. At first, allegedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, subsequently from the police themselves. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was ordered to the police station and warned explicitly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is one of many opposing a high-value initiative where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be demolished and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is unparalleled in the world," states Shaikh. "However their intention is to dismantle our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of this community sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and elite residences that dominate the settlement. Homes are constructed informally and typically lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the environment is filled with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and homes with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream realized.

"There's no proper healthcare, paved pathways or water management and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," says A Selvin Nadar, 56, who relocated from southern India in 1982. "The single option is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, such as the leather artisan, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, historically ignored as informal housing, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. Yet they are concerned that this project – without resident participation – might convert valuable urban land into a luxury development, forcing out the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have been there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these marginalized, displaced people who established the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and commercial output, whose production is worth between $1m and $2m a year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly a million people living in the crowded 220-hectare neighborhood, fewer than half will be eligible for new homes in the development, which is estimated to take seven years to complete. Others will be relocated to barren areas and coastal regions on the remote edges of the metropolis, risking fragment a generations-old neighborhood. A portion will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to stay in the area will be provided flats in tower blocks, a substantial change from the natural, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has supported Dharavi for many years.

Businesses from tailoring to pottery and waste processing are projected to reduce in scale and be transferred to a specific "business area" separated from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of Shaikh, a craftsman and long-time resident to call home Dharavi, the project presents an existential threat. His rickety, multi-level facility creates apparel – tailored coats, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – distributed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Household members resides in the rooms underneath and laborers and garment workers – laborers from north India – also sleep there, enabling him to afford their labour. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are frequently significantly costlier for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

At the government offices nearby, a visual representation of the Dharavi project depicts a very different outlook. Well-groomed residents mill about on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring western-style bread and breakfast items and enlisting beverages on a terrace adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that maintains the neighborhood.

"This isn't improvement for our community," explains Shaikh. "It represents a huge land development that will price people out for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the development company. Headed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has encountered allegations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

While the state government describes it as a partnership, the business group paid $950m for its 80% stake. A lawsuit claiming that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the developer is being considered in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to actively protest the development, local opponents claim they have been experienced an extended period of coercion and warning – including messages, direct threats and insinuations that criticizing the initiative was comparable with speaking against the country – by individuals they claim work for the developer.

Included in these alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c