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Across several weeks, threatening communications continued. Initially, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Finally, a local artisan asserts he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is one of many fighting a expensive redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces razed and transformed by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of the slum is exceptional in the planet," explains the resident. "But their intention is to eradicate our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the settlement. Residences are built haphazardly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the environment is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of luxury high-rises, neat parks, modern retail complexes and apartments with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision come true.

"We lack sufficient health services, proper streets or water management and there are no spaces for children to play," says A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who moved from his home state in 1982. "The single option is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Local Protest

However, some, including this protester, are resisting the project.

None deny that this community, long neglected as informal housing, is in stark need economic input and modernization. Yet they fear that this plan – without public consultation – is one that will transform premium city property into a luxury development, evicting the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have been there since the late 1800s.

It was these excluded, migrant workers who developed the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose output is estimated at between one million dollars and a substantial sum a year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million residents living in the packed sprawling area, less than 50% will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is expected to take seven years to complete. The remainder will be transferred to wastelands and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the metropolis, threatening to fragment a long-established social network. Certain individuals will receive no housing at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be allocated apartments in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the organic, collective approach of residing and operating that has maintained the community for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and waste processing are expected to reduce in scale and be transferred to an allocated "business area" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and multi-generational of his family to reside in the slum, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His makeshift, three-floor facility creates leather coats – formal jackets, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – marketed in premium stores in south Mumbai and overseas.

Relatives dwells in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and tailors – workers from different regions – reside there, permitting him to sustain operations. Outside the slum, accommodation prices are frequently tenfold as high for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities nearby, a visual representation of the Dharavi project illustrates a very different perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants mill about on bicycles and electric vehicles, acquiring western-style baked goods and pastries and enlisting beverages on a patio near Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. It is a world away from the affordable idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that supports local residents.

"This represents no development for residents," explains the artisan. "This constitutes an enormous real estate deal that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists concern of the corporate group. Managed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the national leader – the corporation has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Although the state government labels it a partnership, the developer contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. A lawsuit stating that the project was improperly granted to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to publicly resist the development, local opponents state they have been experienced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – including phone calls, explicit warnings and suggestions that speaking against the initiative was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by figures they allege are associated with the corporate group.

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