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For months, coercive communications persisted. At first, reportedly from a retired cop and a former defense officer, and then from the police themselves. Finally, a local artisan claims he was ordered to the police station and told clearly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is one of many opposing a high-value redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of this area is unparalleled in the world," says the protester. "Yet their intention is to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of this community sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and elite residences that loom over the settlement. Dwellings are constructed informally and often lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is filled with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

To some, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of luxury high-rises, neat parks, contemporary malls and homes with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack sufficient health services, paved pathways or drainage and there are no spaces for children to play," says A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from southern India in that period. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, such as this protester, are fighting against the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing investment and development. Yet they worry that this plan – lacking public consultation – might transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, migrant communities who have lived there since generations ago.

This involved these shunned, relocated individuals who developed the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between $1m and $2m per year, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly 1 million residents living in the packed 220-hectare zone, less than 50% will be able for replacement housing in the development, which is projected to take a significant period to finish. The remainder will be moved to wastelands and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the metropolis, risking break up a long-established social network. Some will receive no homes at all.

Those allowed to remain in the neighborhood will be given flats in tower blocks, a major break from the natural, communal way of residing and operating that has sustained Dharavi for generations.

Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and recycling are likely to decrease in quantity and be moved to a specific "business area" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like this protester, a leather artisan and long-time of his family to live in this community, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His informal, three-floor workshop creates garments – formal jackets, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – distributed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives lives in the rooms underneath and laborers and sewers – workers from north India – reside on-site, permitting him to sustain operations. Outside Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are often significantly as high for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

At the government offices nearby, a conceptual model of the transformation initiative illustrates an alternative outlook. Fashionable residents gather on cycles and e-vehicles, purchasing continental baguettes and croissants and enlisting beverages on a terrace outside a restaurant and treat station. This depicts a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that maintains the neighborhood.

"This isn't improvement for us," says Shaikh. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the corporate group. Headed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

While administrative bodies calls it a collaborative effort, the developer contributed $950m for its majority share. A case stating that the initiative was questionably assigned to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to publicly resist the redevelopment, protesters and community members assert they have been subjected to an extended period of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and suggestions that speaking against the project was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by figures they claim work for the developer.

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