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Over an extended period, coercive phone calls recurred. At first, allegedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, and then from the police themselves. Ultimately, a local artisan asserts he was ordered to the police station and told clearly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is part of a group opposing a multimillion-dollar project where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces bulldozed and modernized by a corporate giant.

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

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of this community sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and frequently without proper sanitation, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the environment is permeated by the overpowering odor of open sewers.

To some, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and homes with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"We don't have sufficient health services, paved pathways or sewage systems and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," says A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who relocated from his home state in the early eighties. "The single option is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, like Shaikh, are fighting against the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need financial support and improvement. Yet they worry that this project – without resident participation – could potentially transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have lived there since the late 1800s.

This involved these marginalized, relocated individuals who developed the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and business activity, whose economic value is valued at between a significant amount and two million dollars per year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly 1 million residents living in the crowded 220-hectare zone, less than 50% will be able for replacement housing in the project, which is expected to take seven years to finish. The remainder will be relocated to wastelands and coastal regions on the remote edges of the metropolis, threatening to fragment a historic community. A portion will be denied housing at all.

Residents permitted to remain in Dharavi will be given apartments in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of living and working that has sustained this area for generations.

Commercial activities from garment work to pottery and recycling are expected to reduce in scale and be transferred to a specific "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in the slum, the project presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-storey facility makes apparel – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – distributed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and internationally.

Relatives dwells in the accommodations below and employees and sewers – laborers from north India – also sleep on-site, permitting him to manage costs. Away from Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are frequently significantly costlier for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

At the administrative buildings close by, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan shows a contrasting vision for the future. Fashionable people mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, purchasing continental bread and croissants and socializing on a terrace near Dharavi Cafe and treat station. It is a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that supports the neighborhood.

"This is not improvement for residents," explains the artisan. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the corporate group. Headed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Even as the state government describes it as a partnership, the business group contributed $950m for its majority share. Legal proceedings claiming that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to actively protest the project, protesters and community members claim they have been experienced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – including communications, explicit warnings and suggestions that opposing the development was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they allege are associated with the developer.

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