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Over an extended period, threatening communications persisted. Initially, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, and then from law enforcement directly. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and warned explicitly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is one of many fighting a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces razed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," states the resident. "However their intention is to destroy our community and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of this community sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the settlement. Residences are built haphazardly and frequently missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the environment is saturated with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

To some, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with two toilets is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We lack sufficient health services, roads or drainage and we have no places for children to play," says a tea vendor, fifty-six, who moved from southern India in that period. "The only way is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

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

Everyone acknowledges that this community, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need economic input and modernization. But they fear that this project – without public consultation – might transform premium city property into a playground for the rich, forcing out the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

It was these marginalized, migrant workers who established the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and two million dollars per year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately a million inhabitants living in the dense 220-hectare zone, fewer than half will be eligible for new homes in the development, which is expected to take a significant period to accomplish. The remainder will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the metropolis, potentially fragment a generations-old social network. Certain individuals will receive no housing at all.

People eligible to stay in the area will be provided apartments in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the natural, collective approach of living and working that has maintained the community for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and material recovery are projected to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "industrial sector" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like this protester, a leather artisan and third generation inhabitant to live in Dharavi, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His informal, three-storey operation creates garments – formal jackets, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – distributed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Household members lives in the spaces underneath and laborers and sewers – laborers from other states – reside on-site, allowing him to afford their labour. Away from the slum, housing costs are often 10 times more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

In the administrative buildings nearby, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting outlook. Fashionable inhabitants mill about on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, buying international bread and croissants and having coffee on an outdoor area outside a coffee shop and treat station. This depicts a world away from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This is not improvement for residents," explains Shaikh. "It represents a huge property transaction that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the business conglomerate. Managed by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has encountered allegations of favoritism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

While administrative bodies describes it as a collaborative effort, the corporation paid $950m for its majority share. Legal proceedings alleging that the project was unfairly awarded to the developer is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to vocally oppose the development, local opponents assert they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving communications, direct threats and insinuations that criticizing the development was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by people they claim represent the business conglomerate.

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