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Over an extended period, coercive phone calls continued. Originally, allegedly from a retired cop and a former defense officer, subsequently from the police themselves. In the end, one resident asserts he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is among those fighting a expensive project where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be razed and modernized by a large business group.

"The culture of this area is unparalleled in the planet," states the protester. "However their intention is to eradicate our community and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that loom over the neighborhood. Homes are constructed informally and frequently lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and apartments with two toilets is an aspirational dream achieved.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and we have no places for children to play," explains a chai seller, 56, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Local Protest

However, some, like Shaikh, are resisting the plan.

None deny that Dharavi, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring investment and development. Yet they worry that this project – absent of community input – might convert premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have resided there since the late 1800s.

It was these shunned, displaced people who developed the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and commercial output, whose production is valued at between $1m and a substantial sum annually, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately 1 million inhabitants living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, a minority will be qualified for new homes in the development, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to finish. The remainder will be moved to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the far outskirts of the city, risking divide a long-established social network. A portion will be denied residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in Dharavi will be provided flats in multi-story structures, a major break from the natural, communal way of living and working that has supported Dharavi for many years.

Industries from garment work to clay work and material recovery are expected to reduce in scale and be relocated to a designated "business area" separated from homes.

Existential Threat

For those such as the leather artisan, a workshop owner and multi-generational of his family to reside in the slum, the project presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, three-floor facility produces garments – tailored coats, suede trenches, decorated jackets – sold in high-end shops in south Mumbai and abroad.

His family resides in the spaces below and laborers and garment workers – laborers from different regions – live in the same building, enabling him to afford their labour. Away from the slum, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

In the official facilities close by, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan depicts a very different vision for the future. Well-groomed people mill about on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, buying western-style bread and breakfast items and socializing on a patio outside a restaurant and dessert parlor. This represents a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that supports local residents.

"This represents no progress for residents," states Shaikh. "It's a huge property transaction that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

There is also distrust of the corporate group. Headed by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the government head – the corporation has faced accusations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Although local authorities labels it a partnership, the developer contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. A lawsuit stating that the initiative was improperly granted to the corporation is pending in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, protesters and community members state they have been subjected to an extended period of coercion and warning – involving messages, explicit warnings and insinuations that criticizing the initiative was comparable with opposing national interests – by figures they claim represent the corporate group.

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