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Over an extended period, threatening messages continued. Originally, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, subsequently from law enforcement directly. In the end, a local artisan asserts he was summoned to the police station and told clearly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is one of many opposing a multimillion-dollar initiative where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be bulldozed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is exceptional in the planet," explains Shaikh. "But they want to eradicate our community and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that loom over the settlement. Dwellings are built haphazardly and frequently without proper sanitation, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the air is saturated with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

To some, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and apartments with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision realized.

"There's no sufficient health services, proper streets or sewage systems and we have no places for kids to enjoy," explains a chai seller, fifty-six, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The only way is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are opposing the redevelopment.

None deny that the slum, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they worry that this project – absent of public consultation – might transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, evicting the marginalized, working-class residents who have lived there since generations ago.

These were these excluded, relocated individuals who built up the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and commercial output, whose economic value is estimated at between $1m and two million dollars per year, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately one million inhabitants living in the dense 220-hectare area, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the project, which is expected to take seven years to finish. The remainder will be relocated to wastelands and coastal regions on the remote edges of the city, risking fragment a historic neighborhood. Some will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be allocated units in high-rise buildings, a major break from the organic, shared lifestyle of living and working that has supported Dharavi for many years.

Industries from tailoring to clay work and recycling are projected to shrink in number and be relocated to a specific "commercial zone" separated from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

In the case of Shaikh, a craftsman and third generation resident to call home this community, the plan presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level facility makes garments – sharp blazers, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – distributed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the rooms underneath and employees and tailors – laborers from different regions – live in the same building, permitting him to sustain operations. Outside Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are typically tenfold more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

In the official facilities nearby, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project shows a very different vision for the future. Slickly dressed inhabitants move around on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, buying international baked goods and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that supports Dharavi's community.

"This is not improvement for us," explains the protester. "It represents an enormous land development that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists concern of the corporate group. Headed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the government head – the corporation has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

While administrative bodies describes it as a joint project, the business group invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. A lawsuit alleging that the project was improperly granted to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, protesters and community members claim they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and implications that criticizing the project was tantamount to speaking against the country – by figures they assert represent the developer.

Part of the group accused of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c