Over an extended period, intimidating messages persisted. Originally, allegedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. Finally, one resident claims he was ordered to the police station and instructed bluntly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.
Shaikh is one of many resisting a expensive redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be razed and redeveloped by a corporate giant.
"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the planet," states the protester. "But the plan aims to dismantle our way of life and stop us speaking out."
The dank gullies of the slum sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that dominate the neighborhood. Homes are assembled randomly and typically missing basic amenities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is permeated by the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.
For certain residents, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision realized.
"We lack sufficient health services, paved pathways or sewage systems and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, 56, who relocated from southern India in 1982. "The only way is to clear the area and build us new homes."
But others, such as this protester, are resisting the project.
Everyone acknowledges that this community, historically ignored as informal housing, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. However they worry that this initiative – lacking resident participation – could potentially turn valuable urban land into a luxury development, evicting the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have lived there since the nineteenth century.
This involved these shunned, relocated individuals who built up the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose economic value is valued at between one million dollars and two million dollars annually, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.
Among approximately 1 million inhabitants living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer zone, less than 50% will be able for new homes in the project, which is projected to take seven years to complete. The remainder will be relocated to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the far outskirts of the city, potentially fragment a long-established social network. Some will receive no homes at all.
Those allowed to stay in Dharavi will be given flats in tower blocks, a major break from the organic, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has sustained this area for generations.
Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and recycling are likely to shrink in number and be moved to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from people's residences.
In the case of Shaikh, a leather artisan and multi-generational resident to reside in the slum, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-floor operation creates apparel – formal jackets, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – sold in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and internationally.
Relatives dwells in the rooms downstairs and laborers and tailors – laborers from north India – also sleep there, permitting him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, housing costs are frequently significantly costlier for a single room.
At the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative shows an alternative vision for the future. Well-groomed residents mill about on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, purchasing continental baguettes and croissants and having coffee on a patio near a coffee shop and treat station. This represents a world away from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that sustains the neighborhood.
"This is not improvement for us," states the protester. "This constitutes an enormous real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."
Furthermore, there's skepticism of the development company. Run by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the business group has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it rejects.
Even as local authorities labels it a collaborative effort, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. A case claiming that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the business group is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.
After they started to vocally oppose the redevelopment, protesters and community members state they have been faced a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – involving communications, direct threats and implications that criticizing the project was equivalent to speaking against the country – by figures they allege represent the developer.
Included in these suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c
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