Across several weeks, intimidating phone calls persisted. At first, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, subsequently from law enforcement directly. In the end, one resident asserts he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.
This third-generation resident is one of many opposing a expensive initiative where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – will be demolished and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.
"The culture of the slum is unparalleled in the world," says the protester. "Yet their intention is to eradicate our way of life and stop us speaking out."
The narrow alleys of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and elite residences that dominate the area. Homes are constructed informally and typically lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is filled with the suffocating smell of open sewers.
To some, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and homes with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future achieved.
"There's no sufficient health services, paved pathways or drainage and we have no places for youth to recreate," explains A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who migrated from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to clear the area and construct proper housing."
However, some, including Shaikh, are resisting the plan.
All recognize that this community, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. But they fear that this initiative – absent of resident participation – is one that will turn valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, displacing the lower-caste, migrant communities who have been there since the nineteenth century.
These were these shunned, displaced people who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and business activity, whose production is estimated at between one million dollars and $2m a year, making it a major unofficial markets.
Among approximately a million people living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer area, less than 50% will be able for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take a significant period to accomplish. Others will be relocated to barren areas and saline fields on the far outskirts of the metropolis, potentially break up a long-established community. Some will receive no residences at all.
Those allowed to continue living in Dharavi will be given apartments in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the organic, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has maintained the community for generations.
Commercial activities from clothing production to pottery and recycling are expected to reduce in scale and be relocated to an allocated "industrial sector" distant from homes.
For those such as the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation of his family to call home Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level operation produces apparel – sharp blazers, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.
Relatives resides in the spaces below and laborers and sewers – workers from north India – reside on-site, enabling him to afford their labour. Outside Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are typically tenfold more expensive for basic accommodation.
At the official facilities in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project illustrates a contrasting vision for the future. Fashionable people gather on cycles and e-vehicles, acquiring continental bread and pastries and having coffee on a patio near a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This represents a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that maintains the neighborhood.
"This represents no development for our community," says the artisan. "This constitutes a huge real estate deal that will render it impossible for our community to continue."
Furthermore, there's skepticism of the business conglomerate. Headed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and an associate of the national leader – the business group has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it disputes.
While administrative bodies calls it a collaborative effort, the developer paid a significant amount for its majority share. A case alleging that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the business group is being considered in India's supreme court.
From when they initiated to vocally oppose the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been faced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – including communications, clear intimidation and insinuations that speaking against the project was tantamount to speaking against the country – by figures they assert are associated with the corporate group.
Part of the group suspected of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c
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