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For months, intimidating communications recurred. Initially, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Finally, one resident asserts he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is one of many fighting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and transformed by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of the slum is unparalleled in the planet," states Shaikh. "However their intention is to eradicate our way of life and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of this community present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that loom over the settlement. Homes are built haphazardly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of high-end towers, neat parks, modern retail complexes and homes with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision come true.

"We don't have proper healthcare, roads or drainage and we have no places for youth to recreate," explains a tea vendor, fifty-six, who migrated from his home state in the early eighties. "The only way is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, such as Shaikh, are fighting against the plan.

All recognize that the slum, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. But they are concerned that this project – lacking public consultation – might turn valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, forcing out the lower-caste, migrant communities who have been there since the late 1800s.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who developed the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and business activity, whose production is estimated at between one million dollars and two million dollars per year, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately a million people living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer zone, fewer than half will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. The remainder will be relocated to wastelands and salt plains on the far outskirts of the city, threatening to break up a long-established community. Certain individuals will not get housing at all.

People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be allocated apartments in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the organic, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has sustained this area for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to ceramic crafts and material recovery are expected to decrease in quantity and be relocated to a specific "industrial sector" separated from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like this protester, a craftsman and multi-generational of his family to reside in Dharavi, the project presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-floor operation produces apparel – sharp blazers, luxury coats, decorated jackets – sold in premium stores in south Mumbai and overseas.

Household members dwells in the accommodations below and laborers and garment workers – migrants from other states – reside there, allowing him to sustain operations. Away from Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times as high for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project illustrates a very different perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on cycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring western-style baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area adjacent to a restaurant and treat station. This represents a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that maintains the neighborhood.

"This is not progress for our community," explains Shaikh. "It's an enormous real estate deal that will price people out for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's concern of the business conglomerate. Managed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has faced accusations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Even as local authorities labels it a collaborative effort, the business group paid a significant amount for its 80% stake. A case stating that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the business group is under review in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to actively protest the development, protesters and community members claim they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving messages, clear intimidation and implications that speaking against the development was equivalent to opposing national interests – by individuals they assert work for the corporate group.

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