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Over an extended period, intimidating messages recurred. At first, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, later from the police themselves. Ultimately, a local artisan states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is among those opposing a high-value project where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be demolished and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of this area is exceptional in the planet," states the resident. "Yet the plan aims to eradicate our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and homes with two toilets is an optimistic future realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or drainage and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," says A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

However, some, like Shaikh, are resisting the project.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need financial support and improvement. Yet they fear that this plan – lacking resident participation – could potentially transform premium city property into a playground for the rich, forcing out the marginalized, working-class residents who have resided there since generations ago.

This involved these excluded, migrant workers who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose economic value is worth between $1m and a substantial sum a year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly 1 million people living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be eligible for replacement housing in the project, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Additional residents will be transferred to barren areas and salt plains on the distant periphery of Mumbai, potentially fragment a generations-old community. Some will receive no homes at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the neighborhood will be allocated flats in high-rise buildings, a major break from the natural, collective approach of residing and operating that has maintained this area for generations.

Industries from clothing production to clay work and recycling are projected to reduce in scale and be moved to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of Shaikh, a workshop owner and third generation resident to reside in this community, the project presents an existential threat. His makeshift, three-storey facility makes apparel – formal jackets, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – sold in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Relatives resides in the accommodations below and his workers and sewers – workers from north India – reside on-site, permitting him to afford their labour. Outside this community, housing costs are often 10 times more expensive for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the administrative buildings in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan illustrates an alternative perspective. Well-groomed people mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, buying western-style baked goods and pastries and having coffee on a patio outside Dharavi Cafe and dessert parlor. This represents a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that sustains local residents.

"This isn't development for residents," explains the protester. "It's a massive property transaction that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists concern of the corporate group. Run by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the national leader – the corporation has been subject to claims of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Even as administrative bodies labels it a partnership, the developer paid $950m for its majority share. Legal proceedings alleging that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the developer is under review in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to vocally oppose the redevelopment, local opponents claim they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – including phone calls, explicit warnings and implications that speaking against the project was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they claim are associated with the corporate group.

Included in these alleged to have issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c