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Over an extended period, intimidating messages recurred. Originally, allegedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, and then from the authorities. Ultimately, one resident states he was summoned to the local precinct and warned explicitly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is one of many opposing a high-value initiative where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of this area is unparalleled in the planet," explains Shaikh. "But they want to eradicate our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the settlement. Homes are assembled randomly and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is permeated by the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

To some, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and homes with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, roads or drainage and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," explains a chai seller, 56, who migrated from his home state in that period. "The only way is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, such as this protester, are fighting against the plan.

None deny that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need investment and development. Yet they are concerned that this plan – lacking public consultation – might transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the marginalized, immigrant populations who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these excluded, displaced people who established the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is estimated at between a significant amount and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately 1 million residents living in the packed 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be qualified for new homes in the redevelopment, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. The remainder will be transferred to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the city, risking divide a long-established community. A portion will receive no housing at all.

People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be provided units in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the evolved, collective approach of residing and operating that has supported Dharavi for many years.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and recycling are projected to decrease in quantity and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" far from people's residences.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a craftsman and multi-generational of his family to live in this community, the project presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-storey facility produces apparel – tailored coats, luxury coats, fashionable garments – distributed in premium stores in south Mumbai and internationally.

His family dwells in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and tailors – migrants from north India – also sleep there, allowing him to afford their labour. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are frequently significantly costlier for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

In the government offices nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting vision for the future. Well-groomed residents mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style baguettes and pastries and having coffee on a terrace near a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. This depicts a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that supports the neighborhood.

"This isn't improvement for residents," says the protester. "It represents an enormous real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the corporate group. Run by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Even as local authorities describes it as a partnership, the developer invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. Legal proceedings alleging that the project was improperly granted to the developer is pending in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to vocally oppose the project, local opponents claim they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – including phone calls, direct threats and implications that speaking against the initiative was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by figures they assert are associated with the business conglomerate.

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