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For months, intimidating communications recurred. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, subsequently from the authorities. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was summoned to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is among those fighting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be bulldozed and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the world," explains the protester. "However the plan aims to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of the slum sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that loom over the neighborhood. Homes are constructed informally and often lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the air is permeated by the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and apartments with two toilets is an optimistic future achieved.

"We lack sufficient health services, roads or water management and there are no spaces for children to play," says a chai seller, fifty-six, who moved from southern India in the early eighties. "The single option is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

However, some, such as the leather artisan, are fighting against the plan.

All recognize that this community, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. However they are concerned that this initiative – without resident participation – might convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, evicting the lower-caste, working-class residents who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, migrant workers who established the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and a substantial sum annually, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly a million residents living in the dense sprawling area, less than 50% will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is projected to take a significant period to accomplish. Others will be moved to barren areas and saline fields on the distant periphery of the city, risking break up a historic community. A portion will receive no housing at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be provided apartments in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the organic, shared lifestyle of living and working that has supported Dharavi for many years.

Industries from tailoring to ceramic crafts and recycling are likely to decrease in quantity and be relocated to an allocated "industrial sector" far from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of this protester, a workshop owner and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor operation produces leather coats – formal jackets, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – marketed in premium stores in south Mumbai and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the spaces below and laborers and tailors – migrants from north India – live there, allowing him to afford their labour. Away from the slum, Mumbai rents are typically tenfold costlier for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the government offices nearby, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project shows an alternative perspective. Fashionable residents move around on bicycles and electric vehicles, acquiring continental baked goods and pastries and having coffee on a patio adjacent to a coffee shop and treat station. This depicts a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that supports local residents.

"This isn't progress for us," explains Shaikh. "It's an enormous real estate deal that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the development company. Managed by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it denies.

While local authorities labels it a joint project, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. Legal proceedings stating that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the developer is under review in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to publicly resist the development, protesters and community members claim they have been experienced a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising phone calls, direct threats and implications that criticizing the initiative was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they assert work for the corporate group.

Part of the group alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c