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Over an extended period, coercive communications continued. Originally, supposedly from a retired cop and a former defense officer, later from the police themselves. Finally, a local artisan states he was ordered to the local precinct and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is part of a group resisting a high-value project where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces demolished and modernized by a large business group.

"The culture of this area is exceptional in the planet," states the protester. "Yet their intention is to dismantle our community and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of the slum present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the settlement. Homes are built haphazardly and often without proper sanitation, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the air is permeated by the suffocating smell of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and residences with two toilets is an aspirational dream realized.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, roads or water management and there's nowhere for children to play," explains a tea vendor, fifty-six, who relocated from his home state in the early eighties. "The only way is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

However, some, including Shaikh, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing economic input and modernization. However they worry that this initiative – lacking resident participation – is one that will turn premium city property into a luxury development, displacing the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, migrant workers who built up the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and commercial output, whose economic value is valued at between $1m and a substantial sum a year, making it a major unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about 1 million residents living in the crowded 220-hectare zone, a minority will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take a significant period to complete. Others will be relocated to barren areas and salt plains on the distant periphery of the city, risking break up a historic neighborhood. A portion will receive no homes at all.

People eligible to continue living in the area will be provided units in multi-story structures, a major break from the natural, collective approach of living and working that has sustained this area for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to pottery and recycling are likely to decrease in quantity and be relocated to a designated "commercial zone" separated from homes.

Existential Threat

For residents like the leather artisan, a leather artisan and multi-generational inhabitant to live in this community, the project presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-storey workshop creates garments – sharp blazers, luxury coats, decorated jackets – marketed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives resides in the spaces downstairs and employees and sewers – migrants from north India – also sleep on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Outside this community, accommodation prices are typically 10 times more expensive for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

At the official facilities nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative illustrates a contrasting outlook. Fashionable inhabitants gather on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, purchasing western-style baked goods and pastries and having coffee on a patio adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. It is a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

"This represents no progress for our community," explains the artisan. "It represents a massive property transaction that will price people out for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the business conglomerate. Managed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the government head – the corporation has encountered allegations of favoritism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Even as local authorities labels it a collaborative effort, the developer paid nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings claiming that the initiative was questionably assigned to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents state they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, explicit warnings and implications that criticizing the development was comparable with speaking against the country – by people they assert are associated with the corporate group.

Among those alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c