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For months, intimidating phone calls recurred. At first, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from the police themselves. Finally, a local artisan claims he was ordered to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is among those resisting a multimillion-dollar initiative where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be bulldozed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the world," states the resident. "But the plan aims to destroy our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the settlement. Residences are constructed informally and typically missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the environment is saturated with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of high-end towers, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and homes with two toilets is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We don't have proper healthcare, proper streets or drainage and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," explains A Selvin Nadar, 56, who migrated from southern India in that period. "The only way is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

However, some, such as the leather artisan, are opposing the plan.

All recognize that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. However they are concerned that this plan – absent of public consultation – is one that will turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, forcing out the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have been there since the late 1800s.

These were these excluded, displaced people who established the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and economic productivity, whose economic value is worth between a significant amount and two million dollars per year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about a million residents living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, a minority will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. Others will be moved to barren areas and coastal regions on the far outskirts of Mumbai, risking fragment a generations-old social network. A portion will be denied residences at all.

Those allowed to continue living in Dharavi will be given flats in high-rise buildings, a major break from the organic, collective approach of residing and operating that has sustained Dharavi for generations.

Industries from garment work to clay work and waste processing are expected to shrink in number and be moved to a designated "commercial zone" far from homes.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and long-time inhabitant to call home the slum, the project presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, multi-level workshop creates leather coats – sharp blazers, suede trenches, decorated jackets – distributed in premium stores in south Mumbai and abroad.

Household members resides in the spaces downstairs and employees and sewers – workers from different regions – also sleep there, permitting him to sustain operations. Beyond this community, Mumbai rents are typically 10 times as high for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the official facilities close by, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan illustrates an alternative perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on cycles and eco-friendly transport, purchasing western-style bread and pastries and having coffee on a patio adjacent to a restaurant and treat station. This represents a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

"This is not development for us," explains the protester. "This constitutes a huge real estate deal that will price people out for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the business conglomerate. Managed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of crony capitalism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

While local authorities calls it a joint project, the corporation contributed nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings stating that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the corporation is pending in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to publicly resist the development, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been experienced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – involving communications, clear intimidation and suggestions that criticizing the initiative was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they allege work for the developer.

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