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For months, intimidating communications recurred. At first, reportedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, later from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, a local artisan claims he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is among those resisting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces bulldozed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The culture of the slum is exceptional in the globe," states the resident. "However they want to dismantle our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that overshadow the settlement. Residences are constructed informally and typically lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the air is filled with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

To some, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and apartments with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or water management and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," explains a chai seller, 56, who relocated from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

But others, including Shaikh, are fighting against the project.

All recognize that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is urgently needing investment and development. However they are concerned that this plan – without resident participation – could potentially convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, forcing out the marginalized, migrant communities who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

It was these excluded, relocated individuals who established the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of community resilience and commercial output, whose output is worth between one million dollars and $2m per year, making it a major informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly a million residents living in the packed sprawling zone, less than 50% will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is estimated to take seven years to complete. The remainder will be transferred to barren areas and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the metropolis, threatening to break up a historic social network. A portion will be denied housing at all.

People eligible to stay in the area will be given apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the evolved, shared lifestyle of living and working that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are likely to shrink in number and be transferred to an allocated "industrial sector" far from homes.

Existential Threat

In the case of Shaikh, a workshop owner and multi-generational resident to call home Dharavi, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His informal, three-storey facility makes leather coats – formal jackets, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – distributed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Household members dwells in the accommodations underneath and laborers and garment workers – laborers from other states – also sleep on-site, allowing him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, Mumbai rents are typically significantly more expensive for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project shows an alternative vision for the future. Fashionable inhabitants mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, acquiring international baguettes and croissants and enlisting beverages on a terrace adjacent to a restaurant and dessert parlor. This depicts a world away from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that sustains the neighborhood.

"This is not improvement for residents," explains the artisan. "It's an enormous land development that will price people out for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's concern of the corporate group. Managed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and an associate of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

While local authorities labels it a joint project, the developer invested a significant amount for its 80% stake. A case claiming that the project was questionably assigned to the developer is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

After they started to publicly resist the development, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been faced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and insinuations that speaking against the development was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by figures they claim work for the corporate group.

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