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Over an extended period, intimidating messages continued. Originally, allegedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, and then from the police themselves. Ultimately, a local artisan states he was summoned to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is one of many fighting a expensive initiative where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces bulldozed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is like nowhere else in the planet," explains Shaikh. "However their intention is to eradicate our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of this community present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the neighborhood. Homes are built haphazardly and often missing basic amenities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the air is permeated by the suffocating smell of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and residences with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, fifty-six, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The sole solution is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

However, some, like this protester, are fighting against the project.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. Yet they fear that this plan – absent of public consultation – might convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, forcing out the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have lived there since the late 1800s.

This involved these marginalized, displaced people who built up the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between a significant amount and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Out of about one million inhabitants living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, fewer than half will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is estimated to take seven years to complete. The remainder will be moved to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the distant periphery of the city, risking break up a generations-old neighborhood. A portion will be denied homes at all.

Those allowed to remain in Dharavi will be given units in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the natural, communal way of living and working that has maintained the community for so long.

Businesses from garment work to clay work and material recovery are likely to reduce in scale and be moved to a specific "industrial sector" separated from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as this protester, a craftsman and multi-generational inhabitant to call home this community, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, multi-level workshop creates leather coats – sharp blazers, luxury coats, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Household members resides in the accommodations underneath and his workers and tailors – laborers from north India – reside in the same building, enabling him to afford their labour. Away from the slum, housing costs are frequently significantly as high for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the government offices nearby, a visual representation of the transformation initiative depicts an alternative outlook. Slickly dressed people mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, buying international bread and pastries and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that supports the neighborhood.

"This isn't progress for residents," says the artisan. "It represents a huge real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the corporate group. Run by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Even as local authorities describes it as a collaborative effort, the business group paid nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A case claiming that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the corporation is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to publicly resist the development, protesters and community members state they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, direct threats and suggestions that speaking against the project was equivalent to speaking against the country – by people they assert represent the business conglomerate.

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