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For months, coercive phone calls continued. Initially, reportedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, subsequently from the police themselves. In the end, one resident claims he was called to the police station and instructed bluntly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is one of many opposing a multimillion-dollar project where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be bulldozed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is exceptional in the world," states the resident. "Yet the plan aims to dismantle our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the area. Homes are built haphazardly and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is saturated with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, neat parks, modern retail complexes and homes with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream realized.

"We don't have proper healthcare, proper streets or sewage systems and we have no places for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from his home state in that period. "The sole solution is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

However, some, including this protester, are fighting against the plan.

All recognize that Dharavi, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing economic input and modernization. But they fear that this initiative – without community input – might turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, evicting the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have lived there since generations ago.

These were these shunned, relocated individuals who built up the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between a significant amount and $2m annually, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately a million people living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer area, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take a significant period to accomplish. Others will be transferred to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the remote edges of Mumbai, threatening to divide a historic neighborhood. A portion will not get housing at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the area will be given flats in tower blocks, a major break from the evolved, shared lifestyle of living and working that has maintained this area for generations.

Commercial activities from garment work to clay work and material recovery are expected to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "commercial zone" distant from homes.

Existential Threat

For residents like this protester, a leather artisan and third generation of his family to reside in the slum, the plan presents an existential threat. His makeshift, three-floor operation produces garments – formal jackets, luxury coats, fashionable garments – distributed in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

His family resides in the rooms below and employees and sewers – laborers from different regions – reside in the same building, allowing him to sustain operations. Outside the slum, housing costs are often tenfold as high for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

Within the government offices in the vicinity, a visual representation of the Dharavi project shows an alternative perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, buying international baked goods and pastries and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area outside a restaurant and dessert parlor. This represents a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

"This represents no progress for our community," explains Shaikh. "This constitutes a massive property transaction that will price people out for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the development company. Run by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the national leader – the business group has faced accusations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

Although the state government labels it a partnership, the corporation invested a significant amount for its majority share. A case stating that the project was improperly granted to the corporation is under review in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to vocally oppose the development, protesters and community members assert they have been faced an extended period of pressure and threats – involving communications, clear intimidation and insinuations that opposing the project was comparable with opposing national interests – by individuals they claim represent the business conglomerate.

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