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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls continued. Initially, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, later from the police themselves. Finally, one resident asserts he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is among those resisting a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be bulldozed and modernized by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," explains the resident. "But they want to destroy our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and elite residences that loom over the area. Residences are assembled randomly and typically missing basic amenities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of high-end towers, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and homes with two toilets is an optimistic future realized.

"We don't have sufficient health services, roads or drainage and there's nowhere for children to play," says a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from southern India in that period. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

But others, including Shaikh, are resisting the plan.

None deny that Dharavi, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. But they are concerned that this project – lacking public consultation – might transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, displacing the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have been there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, displaced people who established the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose output is valued at between $1m and $2m a year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately a million people living in the packed 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be able for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Additional residents will be moved to wastelands and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the metropolis, risking divide a long-established social network. Some will not get residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the neighborhood will be provided apartments in tower blocks, a major break from the natural, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has maintained this area for so long.

Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and material recovery are expected to reduce in scale and be relocated to a specific "business area" far from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and third generation resident to reside in this community, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-floor facility creates garments – formal jackets, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – marketed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Household members lives in the accommodations below and laborers and tailors – migrants from north India – also sleep on-site, permitting him to manage costs. Away from this community, accommodation prices are often tenfold costlier for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

At the administrative buildings close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project illustrates a contrasting outlook. Slickly dressed inhabitants gather on cycles and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style baguettes and pastries and having coffee on a terrace outside a coffee shop and treat station. This depicts a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains the neighborhood.

"This is not progress for us," states Shaikh. "This constitutes a huge land development that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the development company. Run by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has been subject to claims of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Although the state government describes it as a partnership, the developer paid a significant amount for its 80% stake. A case stating that the initiative was questionably assigned to the corporation is being considered in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to publicly resist the redevelopment, protesters and community members claim they have been experienced an extended period of pressure and threats – involving communications, clear intimidation and insinuations that speaking against the development was tantamount to opposing national interests – by individuals they allege represent the corporate group.

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