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Across several weeks, threatening phone calls persisted. At first, reportedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, later from law enforcement directly. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was called to the police station and told clearly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is part of a group resisting a high-value project where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces bulldozed and transformed by a large business group.

"The culture of this area is like nowhere else in the world," explains the protester. "Yet the plan aims to eradicate our way of life and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of this community stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that dominate the area. Residences are built haphazardly and typically without proper sanitation, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and apartments with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.

"There's no proper healthcare, paved pathways or drainage and we have no places for youth to recreate," says A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The single option is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

But others, such as this protester, are opposing the project.

All recognize that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need economic input and modernization. Yet they fear that this plan – absent of resident participation – is one that will convert premium city property into a playground for the rich, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

These were these marginalized, relocated individuals who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose output is worth between one million dollars and two million dollars annually, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly 1 million people living in the dense sprawling area, less than 50% will be eligible for replacement housing in the project, which is projected to take seven years to accomplish. Others will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the far outskirts of Mumbai, risking break up a generations-old community. Some will not get housing at all.

People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be provided apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the evolved, communal way of residing and operating that has sustained Dharavi for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to ceramic crafts and waste processing are likely to reduce in scale and be transferred to a specific "commercial zone" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as Shaikh, a craftsman and third generation of his family to call home this community, the project presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, multi-level facility creates apparel – formal jackets, luxury coats, fashionable garments – sold in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

His family resides in the accommodations underneath and his workers and tailors – workers from other states – reside on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Beyond the slum, housing costs are typically 10 times more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

At the government offices in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan illustrates an alternative vision for the future. Slickly dressed residents mill about on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, purchasing continental baked goods and croissants and enlisting beverages on a patio adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This represents a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that supports the neighborhood.

"This isn't progress for residents," states Shaikh. "This constitutes a huge property transaction that will price people out for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the development company. Headed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

While local authorities describes it as a partnership, the corporation invested $950m for its majority share. A case alleging that the initiative was questionably assigned to the corporation is being considered in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to actively protest the redevelopment, local opponents claim they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, direct threats and suggestions that criticizing the initiative was tantamount to speaking against the country – by individuals they claim work for the corporate group.

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