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Over an extended period, coercive messages continued. Originally, allegedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, later from the police themselves. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was summoned to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many fighting a high-value initiative where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces bulldozed and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is unparalleled in the planet," says the protester. "Yet they want to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the area. Homes are built haphazardly and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is filled with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and apartments with two toilets is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack sufficient health services, proper streets or water management and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," states a tea vendor, 56, who moved from his home state in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

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

All recognize that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is in stark need economic input and modernization. However they fear that this plan – without community input – could potentially convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have been there since the late 1800s.

This involved these excluded, relocated individuals who developed the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and business activity, whose output is worth between $1m and $2m per year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about one million inhabitants living in the dense sprawling area, fewer than half will be qualified for new homes in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to complete. The remainder will be transferred to barren areas and coastal regions on the remote edges of Mumbai, threatening to break up a generations-old community. A portion will not get residences at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be allocated apartments in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the organic, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has sustained the community for many years.

Businesses from tailoring to ceramic crafts and material recovery are projected to reduce in scale and be moved to a specific "business area" distant from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

For those such as the leather artisan, a leather artisan and multi-generational resident to reside in Dharavi, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His informal, three-floor workshop creates leather coats – tailored coats, luxury coats, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Relatives resides in the accommodations downstairs and employees and sewers – laborers from other states – reside in the same building, allowing him to sustain operations. Beyond this community, Mumbai rents are often 10 times costlier for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

In the government offices nearby, a visual representation of the transformation initiative depicts a very different outlook. Well-groomed people mill about on cycles and eco-friendly transport, buying continental baked goods and pastries and having coffee on an outdoor area adjacent to a restaurant and treat station. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that sustains the neighborhood.

"This represents no improvement for our community," says Shaikh. "It's a huge property transaction that will price people out for our community to continue."

There is also skepticism of the corporate group. Headed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

While local authorities describes it as a joint project, the corporation invested nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings stating that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the business group is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to publicly resist the project, local opponents state they have been faced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – involving messages, explicit warnings and suggestions that speaking against the project was comparable with opposing national interests – by people they assert are associated with the corporate group.

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