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Over an extended period, coercive messages continued. At first, reportedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, later from the police themselves. Ultimately, a local artisan claims he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is among those opposing a high-value initiative where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – will be bulldozed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is unparalleled in the planet," states Shaikh. "However their intention is to destroy our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of this community stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and elite residences that loom over the neighborhood. Residences are built haphazardly and typically lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the environment is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

To some, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and homes with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream realized.

"We don't have proper healthcare, paved pathways or water management and we have no places for youth to recreate," states a tea vendor, fifty-six, who moved from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

However, some, including this protester, are fighting against the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need investment and development. But they are concerned that this initiative – lacking public consultation – is one that will turn valuable urban land into a luxury development, displacing the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have lived there since generations ago.

These were these marginalized, displaced people who established the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and commercial output, whose production is valued at between a significant amount and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about one million people living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, less than 50% will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is expected to take seven years to accomplish. Others will be moved to barren areas and salt plains on the remote edges of Mumbai, threatening to break up a generations-old community. Certain individuals will be denied housing at all.

Residents permitted to remain in Dharavi will be given flats in tower blocks, a major break from the evolved, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has sustained the community for so long.

Commercial activities from clothing production to pottery and waste processing are expected to reduce in scale and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from homes.

Survival Challenge

For residents like the leather artisan, a leather artisan and long-time inhabitant to reside in the slum, the plan presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-floor operation creates leather coats – tailored coats, luxury coats, decorated jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Household members resides in the spaces underneath and laborers and sewers – laborers from north India – live there, permitting him to afford their labour. Away from this community, housing costs are frequently significantly costlier for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

At the administrative buildings in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the transformation initiative shows a very different vision for the future. Slickly dressed inhabitants gather on bicycles and electric vehicles, acquiring international baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on a terrace adjacent to a restaurant and treat station. This depicts a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that sustains local residents.

"This represents no development for residents," says the protester. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

There is also skepticism of the business conglomerate. Headed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the national leader – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Even as the state government labels it a collaborative effort, the corporation invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. A case alleging that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been faced an extended period of coercion and warning – including communications, explicit warnings and implications that opposing the project was comparable with opposing national interests – by individuals they allege are associated with the corporate group.

Part of the group alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c