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Over an extended period, threatening communications continued. Originally, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, later from the authorities. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many resisting a multimillion-dollar initiative where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be razed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of this area is exceptional in the globe," explains Shaikh. "Yet their intention is to dismantle our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of this community present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the settlement. Residences are assembled randomly and frequently without proper sanitation, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is saturated with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of high-end towers, neat parks, modern retail complexes and residences with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, proper streets or water management and there are no spaces for children to play," states A Selvin Nadar, 56, who relocated from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are resisting the project.

All recognize that Dharavi, long neglected as informal housing, is urgently needing investment and development. However they worry that this project – without resident participation – could potentially convert valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, forcing out the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who established the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose economic value is worth between $1m and $2m per year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about 1 million residents living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, fewer than half will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the project, which is expected to take a significant period to accomplish. The remainder will be moved to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the distant periphery of Mumbai, risking fragment a generations-old neighborhood. Some will receive no homes at all.

People eligible to remain in the area will be allocated flats in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has supported Dharavi for generations.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are expected to reduce in scale and be moved to an allocated "business area" far from homes.

Existential Threat

For those such as Shaikh, a craftsman and third generation of his family to call home this community, the plan presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-floor facility produces apparel – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Relatives resides in the rooms below and his workers and sewers – migrants from different regions – also sleep in the same building, allowing him to afford their labour. Away from Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times more expensive for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

Within the government offices nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan depicts a contrasting vision for the future. Fashionable residents move around on cycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring continental bread and breakfast items and enlisting beverages on a terrace near a restaurant and treat station. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that sustains local residents.

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

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the corporate group. Run by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Although administrative bodies calls it a partnership, the developer invested a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings alleging that the project was questionably assigned to the business group is pending in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to publicly resist the project, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been experienced an extended period of coercion and warning – involving communications, direct threats and insinuations that speaking against the initiative was tantamount to opposing national interests – by people they assert are associated with the developer.

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