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For months, threatening communications continued. Initially, reportedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, and then from the police themselves. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is among those resisting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be demolished and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of the slum is like nowhere else in the world," states the resident. "But they want to eradicate our social fabric and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of the slum present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the neighborhood. Residences are built haphazardly and typically lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is permeated by the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and apartments with proper sanitation is an optimistic future come true.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, roads or water management and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," explains A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who relocated from southern India in that period. "The single option is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, including this protester, are fighting against the redevelopment.

None deny that this community, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. Yet they worry that this plan – lacking community input – might convert valuable urban land into a luxury development, forcing out the marginalized, migrant communities who have been there since generations ago.

These were these excluded, relocated individuals who established the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and business activity, whose output is estimated at between one million dollars and a substantial sum annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million inhabitants living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, less than 50% will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take a significant period to finish. Others will be transferred to wastelands and saline fields on the distant periphery of the metropolis, threatening to fragment a generations-old community. Some will receive no residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in the area will be provided apartments in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the natural, collective approach of residing and operating that has maintained Dharavi for generations.

Businesses from clothing production to clay work and material recovery are expected to shrink in number and be moved to a specific "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation resident to call home the slum, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, three-storey facility produces leather coats – tailored coats, luxury coats, decorated jackets – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Relatives lives in the accommodations underneath and employees and tailors – laborers from other states – reside in the same building, enabling him to manage costs. Outside this community, housing costs are often tenfold more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative illustrates an alternative outlook. Well-groomed people mill about on bicycles and electric vehicles, purchasing continental bread and pastries and socializing on an outdoor area outside a coffee shop and treat station. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that maintains local residents.

"This is not development for our community," states the protester. "It represents a massive real estate deal that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the development company. Managed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the national leader – the conglomerate has faced accusations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Although local authorities describes it as a partnership, the developer contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. A case alleging that the project was questionably assigned to the business group is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to publicly resist the development, local opponents claim they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – comprising messages, clear intimidation and insinuations that speaking against the initiative was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they assert represent the corporate group.

Part of the group suspected of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c