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For months, threatening communications persisted. Initially, supposedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, and then from law enforcement directly. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is among those resisting a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be bulldozed and transformed by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is unparalleled in the planet," says the protester. "Yet they want to destroy our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the settlement. Homes are assembled randomly and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the environment is saturated with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of luxury high-rises, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and apartments with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream realized.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, roads or water management and we have no places for kids to enjoy," explains a tea vendor, fifty-six, who moved from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The single option is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, like Shaikh, are opposing the project.

All recognize that Dharavi, long neglected as informal housing, is urgently needing investment and development. But they are concerned that this plan – without community input – could potentially turn valuable urban land into an elite enclave, evicting the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have resided there since generations ago.

These were these marginalized, migrant workers who developed the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of community resilience and economic productivity, whose production is valued at between a significant amount and two million dollars a year, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately 1 million people living in the packed sprawling neighborhood, fewer than half will be able for replacement housing in the project, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Additional residents will be transferred to wastelands and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the metropolis, potentially break up a long-established neighborhood. A portion will receive no housing at all.

Those allowed to stay in Dharavi will be provided flats in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of residing and operating that has supported the community for generations.

Commercial activities from clothing production to clay work and material recovery are projected to decrease in quantity and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For residents like Shaikh, a leather artisan and multi-generational of his family to live in Dharavi, the project presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level operation creates garments – formal jackets, luxury coats, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives resides in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and sewers – laborers from different regions – also sleep there, allowing him to manage costs. Outside this community, housing costs are often tenfold costlier for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

In the government offices in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan illustrates an alternative perspective. Slickly dressed inhabitants mill about on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, purchasing international baked goods and croissants and having coffee on a terrace adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This represents a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains local residents.

"This isn't improvement for residents," explains the artisan. "It represents a huge property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

There is also distrust of the development company. Headed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the national leader – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Although the state government calls it a collaborative effort, the business group invested nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit alleging that the project was questionably assigned to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to publicly resist the project, local opponents assert they have been experienced a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – including phone calls, direct threats and insinuations that speaking against the development was equivalent to speaking against the country – by figures they assert are associated with the business conglomerate.

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