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Over an extended period, intimidating messages persisted. At first, supposedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, subsequently from the authorities. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was called to the police station and instructed bluntly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is part of a group resisting a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be bulldozed and modernized by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of this area is unparalleled in the planet," states the resident. "But the plan aims to eradicate our community and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and elite residences that dominate the settlement. Homes are built haphazardly and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the air is permeated by the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

For certain residents, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We don't have sufficient health services, paved pathways or sewage systems and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," says a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from southern India in that period. "The sole solution is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Local Protest

However, some, like this protester, are fighting against the project.

None deny that Dharavi, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing investment and development. However they fear that this plan – without public consultation – is one that will transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, displacing the lower-caste, working-class residents who have lived there since the late 1800s.

This involved these excluded, relocated individuals who built up the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and commercial output, whose output is estimated at between $1m and $2m a year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million people living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer zone, a minority will be qualified for new homes in the redevelopment, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Others will be moved to barren areas and salt plains on the distant periphery of the metropolis, threatening to fragment a long-established community. Some will be denied residences at all.

Those allowed to stay in the neighborhood will be allocated apartments in tower blocks, a major break from the natural, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has maintained Dharavi for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and material recovery are projected to decrease in quantity and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" far from people's residences.

Existential Threat

For residents like Shaikh, a leather artisan and third generation of his family to reside in Dharavi, the plan presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-floor facility produces garments – formal jackets, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – marketed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and internationally.

Relatives lives in the spaces underneath and employees and garment workers – workers from other states – reside there, permitting him to manage costs. Away from the slum, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times more expensive for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

Within the official facilities nearby, a visual representation of the transformation initiative shows a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on cycles and electric vehicles, purchasing continental bread and pastries and socializing on a patio outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. This depicts a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains the neighborhood.

"This is not improvement for us," says the artisan. "It's an enormous land development that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the corporate group. Run by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a supporter of the national leader – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Even as local authorities describes it as a partnership, the business group contributed a significant amount for its majority share. A case stating that the initiative was questionably assigned to the business group is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to publicly resist the development, local opponents assert they have been subjected to an extended period of coercion and warning – involving messages, direct threats and suggestions that opposing the development was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by individuals they claim work for the business conglomerate.

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