For months, coercive messages persisted. At first, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.
Shaikh is one of many opposing a expensive initiative where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces razed and transformed by a large business group.
"The culture of this area is unparalleled in the globe," explains the resident. "However their intention is to eradicate our community and prevent our protests."
The narrow alleys of this community present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that overshadow the area. Dwellings are assembled randomly and often lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is saturated with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.
Among some individuals, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and apartments with proper sanitation is an optimistic future achieved.
"There's no sufficient health services, proper streets or sewage systems and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," says A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who relocated from southern India in 1982. "The only way is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."
However, some, such as the leather artisan, are fighting against the redevelopment.
Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, long neglected as informal housing, is in stark need financial support and improvement. But they worry that this project – lacking community input – is one that will transform valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, displacing the lower-caste, working-class residents who have resided there since the late 1800s.
This involved these shunned, displaced people who developed the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of community resilience and business activity, whose economic value is worth between one million dollars and $2m annually, making it a major informal economies.
Of the roughly a million residents living in the dense 220-hectare area, a minority will be able for new homes in the development, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to complete. The remainder will be transferred to wastelands and salt plains on the far outskirts of Mumbai, risking fragment a generations-old social network. Some will receive no residences at all.
Those allowed to stay in Dharavi will be allocated apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the organic, shared lifestyle of living and working that has sustained the community for generations.
Businesses from garment work to pottery and waste processing are likely to reduce in scale and be moved to a designated "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.
In the case of this protester, a leather artisan and long-time inhabitant to call home this community, the plan presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-floor workshop creates garments – sharp blazers, luxury coats, decorated jackets – sold in premium stores in south Mumbai and abroad.
Household members resides in the spaces below and his workers and garment workers – migrants from other states – reside on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Away from Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times as high for minimal space.
In the official facilities nearby, a visual representation of the transformation initiative shows an alternative outlook. Fashionable people mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, purchasing international baguettes and croissants and socializing on an outdoor area near a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that supports local residents.
"This represents no improvement for us," says Shaikh. "It's an enormous property transaction that will render it impossible for residents to remain."
There is also concern of the business conglomerate. Run by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.
Although the state government calls it a joint project, the business group contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. A case claiming that the project was improperly granted to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.
From when they initiated to actively protest the project, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and insinuations that criticizing the project was equivalent to opposing national interests – by figures they claim represent the business conglomerate.
Part of the group alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c
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