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Over an extended period, coercive communications continued. Originally, reportedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, and then from the police themselves. Ultimately, a local artisan asserts he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and warned explicitly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is among those resisting a high-value redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces bulldozed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of the slum is exceptional in the globe," says the resident. "However the plan aims to dismantle our community and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and elite residences that loom over the neighborhood. Residences are constructed informally and often lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the air is filled with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

For certain residents, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, neat parks, modern retail complexes and homes with two toilets is a hopeful vision come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and we have no places for kids to enjoy," says a chai seller, 56, who moved from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

However, some, including Shaikh, are resisting the project.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is in stark need economic input and modernization. Yet they worry that this initiative – absent of community input – might convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the lower-caste, migrant communities who have been there since generations ago.

This involved these shunned, displaced people who developed the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and business activity, whose economic value is worth between one million dollars and two million dollars per year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately one million residents living in the crowded sprawling zone, a minority will be eligible for replacement housing in the development, which is projected to take a significant period to finish. Others will be relocated to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the far outskirts of the city, potentially divide a long-established social network. Some will receive no housing at all.

People eligible to remain in the area will be allocated flats in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the natural, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to ceramic crafts and waste processing are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "commercial zone" distant from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For those such as this protester, a workshop owner and long-time of his family to call home Dharavi, the plan presents an existential threat. His informal, three-floor facility makes garments – sharp blazers, suede trenches, decorated jackets – distributed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

His family dwells in the accommodations underneath and laborers and garment workers – laborers from other states – reside there, allowing him to manage costs. Beyond the slum, accommodation prices are often significantly costlier for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project shows a very different perspective. Slickly dressed residents move around on cycles and e-vehicles, buying international baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area outside a coffee shop and treat station. It is a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This represents no development for us," states the protester. "It represents a massive property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

There is also distrust of the development company. Run by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a supporter of the government head – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Even as the state government labels it a collaborative effort, the developer invested $950m for its majority share. A case stating that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the developer is being considered in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to vocally oppose the redevelopment, protesters and community members assert they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – involving phone calls, direct threats and implications that opposing the development was equivalent to opposing national interests – by people they claim work for the developer.

Among those suspected of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c