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For months, coercive phone calls continued. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, later from the police themselves. Finally, a local artisan asserts he was called to the local precinct and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is among those fighting a expensive redevelopment plan where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be razed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is like nowhere else in the world," says the resident. "However they want to dismantle our community and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of this community stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and elite residences that overshadow the area. Homes are assembled randomly and frequently without proper sanitation, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is permeated by the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

To some, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, neat parks, modern retail complexes and homes with two toilets is an aspirational dream achieved.

"There's no sufficient health services, proper streets or drainage and we have no places for youth to recreate," states a tea vendor, fifty-six, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The only way is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

But others, including this protester, are opposing the redevelopment.

All recognize that Dharavi, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. Yet they fear that this plan – without public consultation – is one that will convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these excluded, migrant workers who established the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and commercial output, whose output is estimated at between one million dollars and $2m annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately one million inhabitants living in the dense sprawling area, less than 50% will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is estimated to take seven years to accomplish. Additional residents will be transferred to wastelands and saline fields on the remote edges of the city, potentially break up a historic social network. Some will be denied homes at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the neighborhood will be allocated flats in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the evolved, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Industries from tailoring to pottery and recycling are projected to reduce in scale and be relocated to an allocated "business area" far from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as Shaikh, a craftsman and long-time resident to reside in this community, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-storey operation makes garments – tailored coats, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – marketed in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

His family dwells in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and sewers – workers from north India – also sleep on-site, permitting him to manage costs. Away from Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are typically significantly as high for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the administrative buildings nearby, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan depicts a contrasting perspective. Fashionable residents move around on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, purchasing western-style baguettes and pastries and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area outside a coffee shop and dessert parlor. This depicts a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that supports Dharavi's community.

"This represents no improvement for us," says Shaikh. "It represents a huge land development that will price people out for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists concern of the corporate group. Run by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a close ally of the national leader – the business group has faced accusations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Although local authorities describes it as a joint project, the developer invested nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings stating that the project was unfairly awarded to the business group is under review in the top court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the development, protesters and community members state they have been faced ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – involving messages, direct threats and suggestions that criticizing the development was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by figures they allege work for the developer.

Among those alleged to have making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c