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Over an extended period, coercive communications continued. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, later from the police themselves. Finally, one resident claims he was summoned to the police station and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is one of many fighting a high-value initiative where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces razed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," explains the resident. "However their intention is to destroy our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and elite residences that dominate the settlement. Homes are assembled randomly and typically lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the air is saturated with the suffocating smell of uncovered waste channels.

Among some individuals, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and homes with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision come true.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, roads or drainage and we have no places for kids to enjoy," says A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who relocated from his home state in 1982. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

However, some, including Shaikh, are fighting against the plan.

None deny that this community, historically ignored as informal housing, is urgently needing investment and development. But they are concerned that this project – absent of community input – might turn valuable urban land into a luxury development, evicting the marginalized, migrant communities who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

It was these excluded, relocated individuals who built up the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of community resilience and economic productivity, whose production is worth between $1m and a substantial sum a year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately 1 million residents living in the dense sprawling zone, less than 50% will be eligible for replacement housing in the project, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to finish. The remainder will be moved to barren areas and saline fields on the remote edges of the metropolis, threatening to divide a long-established neighborhood. Certain individuals will be denied homes at all.

Residents permitted to remain in Dharavi will be given units in high-rise buildings, a major break from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has maintained this area for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and material recovery are expected to shrink in number and be transferred to a designated "industrial sector" separated from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of the leather artisan, a craftsman and third generation of his family to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-floor facility produces garments – sharp blazers, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Household members dwells in the rooms underneath and laborers and sewers – migrants from other states – reside there, allowing him to sustain operations. Away from this community, housing costs are typically 10 times as high for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

At the government offices in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the transformation initiative shows a contrasting perspective. Well-groomed people mill about on cycles and eco-friendly transport, buying continental baked goods and pastries and having coffee on a patio outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. This depicts a world away from the affordable idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that supports the neighborhood.

"This isn't progress for our community," states Shaikh. "It represents an enormous property transaction that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the development company. Managed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the government head – the corporation has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

Even as the state government calls it a joint project, the business group contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings stating that the initiative was improperly granted to the corporation is under review in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to publicly resist the project, local opponents assert they have been experienced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving phone calls, direct threats and insinuations that speaking against the development was tantamount to opposing national interests – by individuals they assert work for the developer.

Among those suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c