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For months, coercive communications recurred. At first, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many resisting a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces demolished and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is exceptional in the world," says the protester. "But their intention is to eradicate our social fabric and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that dominate the settlement. Dwellings are assembled randomly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the environment is permeated by the suffocating smell of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and residences with two toilets is a hopeful vision come true.

"We lack proper healthcare, proper streets or water management and we have no places for youth to recreate," says a chai seller, in his fifties, who moved from southern India in that period. "The only way is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

But others, including this protester, are fighting against the project.

None deny that this community, long neglected as informal housing, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. However they fear that this project – lacking public consultation – might convert valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, forcing out the marginalized, working-class residents who have resided there since the late 1800s.

It was these shunned, migrant workers who developed the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and commercial output, whose economic value is worth between $1m and a substantial sum a year, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about one million residents living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer area, less than 50% will be eligible for replacement housing in the project, which is expected to take a significant period to accomplish. Additional residents will be transferred to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, risking fragment a historic social network. Some will not get homes at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the area will be allocated apartments in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the organic, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has supported Dharavi for generations.

Industries from tailoring to ceramic crafts and waste processing are projected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to a specific "commercial zone" distant from homes.

Existential Threat

In the case of Shaikh, a workshop owner and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in the slum, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-storey operation produces garments – sharp blazers, suede trenches, fashionable garments – distributed in premium stores in south Mumbai and internationally.

His family lives in the spaces below and employees and tailors – workers from other states – reside in the same building, enabling him to afford their labour. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are frequently significantly more expensive for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

At the administrative buildings in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan shows a very different perspective. Well-groomed residents gather on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, acquiring western-style baked goods and croissants and socializing on an outdoor area adjacent to a coffee shop and treat station. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This represents no improvement for our community," explains the artisan. "It represents a massive land development that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists concern of the development company. Run by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a close ally of the national leader – the business group has encountered allegations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Although local authorities labels it a collaborative effort, the business group invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. Legal proceedings alleging that the initiative was improperly granted to the developer is being considered in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to publicly resist the project, local opponents assert they have been experienced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – including communications, explicit warnings and suggestions that opposing the initiative was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by figures they claim work for the corporate group.

Among those suspected of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c