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Across several weeks, coercive messages recurred. Initially, reportedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, later from the authorities. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was ordered to the police station and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many resisting a high-value project where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be bulldozed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is unparalleled in the planet," says the protester. "However they want to dismantle our community and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of this community sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and elite residences that loom over the settlement. Dwellings are constructed informally and often missing basic amenities, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the air is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

To some, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and apartments with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future come true.

"There's no sufficient health services, paved pathways or water management and we have no places for children to play," says A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who relocated from his home state in 1982. "The only way is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

However, some, like this protester, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. But they fear that this project – without community input – is one that will convert premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have been there since the nineteenth century.

These were these excluded, relocated individuals who built up the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is valued at between a significant amount and $2m annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about one million people living in the dense sprawling area, less than 50% will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. Others will be transferred to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the remote edges of Mumbai, potentially divide a historic neighborhood. Certain individuals will not get housing at all.

People eligible to stay in Dharavi will be allocated units in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the evolved, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has supported the community for many years.

Businesses from tailoring to pottery and material recovery are likely to decrease in quantity and be transferred to an allocated "business area" separated from homes.

Existential Threat

For residents like Shaikh, a leather artisan and third generation inhabitant to call home this community, the project presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-storey operation makes apparel – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – distributed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives dwells in the rooms below and employees and tailors – migrants from other states – live in the same building, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are frequently tenfold costlier for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the official facilities in the vicinity, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan illustrates a very different outlook. Well-groomed people mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, purchasing continental baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. This depicts a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't improvement for our community," explains the artisan. "It represents a massive property transaction that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the corporate group. Run by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a supporter of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

Although local authorities labels it a partnership, the developer paid nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. A lawsuit alleging that the project was questionably assigned to the corporation is under review in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to actively protest the development, protesters and community members claim they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of coercion and warning – comprising communications, explicit warnings and implications that speaking against the project was equivalent to speaking against the country – by figures they allege work for the business conglomerate.

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