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Over an extended period, threatening messages continued. Originally, reportedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, one resident asserts he was summoned to the police station and warned explicitly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is part of a group fighting a high-value redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – will be bulldozed and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of the slum is unparalleled in the globe," says the resident. "Yet their intention is to eradicate our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that overshadow the settlement. Homes are built haphazardly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the air is permeated by the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and residences with proper sanitation is an optimistic future achieved.

"There's no sufficient health services, paved pathways or drainage and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," explains a tea vendor, 56, who migrated from his home state in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

But others, like Shaikh, are resisting the redevelopment.

All recognize that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. But they are concerned that this plan – absent of public consultation – is one that will turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, evicting the lower-caste, migrant communities who have lived there since the late 1800s.

These were these marginalized, migrant workers who established the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and business activity, whose output is estimated at between $1m and a substantial sum per year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million inhabitants living in the crowded sprawling area, fewer than half will be eligible for new homes in the project, which is projected to take a significant period to accomplish. Additional residents will be moved to barren areas and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, risking break up a generations-old community. A portion will not get homes at all.

Those allowed to stay in Dharavi will be provided units in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has supported this area for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and material recovery are expected to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "commercial zone" separated from people's residences.

Existential Threat

For residents like this protester, a workshop owner and third generation inhabitant to reside in the slum, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-storey facility produces garments – sharp blazers, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – marketed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the spaces below and his workers and garment workers – laborers from different regions – live in the same building, enabling him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, Mumbai rents are frequently 10 times costlier for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities nearby, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan depicts a very different vision for the future. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on bicycles and e-vehicles, buying international baked goods and croissants and having coffee on a terrace near a coffee shop and treat station. This represents a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that sustains the neighborhood.

"This represents no development for residents," says Shaikh. "This constitutes a massive property transaction that will price people out for us to survive."

There is also skepticism of the corporate group. Run by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the business group has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it rejects.

While the state government labels it a partnership, the business group invested $950m for its majority share. Legal proceedings claiming that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the developer is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to vocally oppose the development, local opponents claim they have been faced an extended period of coercion and warning – involving communications, explicit warnings and suggestions that criticizing the initiative was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by figures they assert work for the developer.

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