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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls continued. Initially, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, subsequently from the authorities. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was ordered to the local precinct and warned explicitly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many opposing a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is like nowhere else in the globe," says the protester. "Yet the plan aims to eradicate our community and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of this community present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the area. Residences are assembled randomly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of high-end towers, neat parks, modern retail complexes and apartments with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or water management and there are no spaces for children to play," explains a tea vendor, 56, who relocated from his home state in that period. "The single option is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

But others, including Shaikh, are resisting the redevelopment.

None deny that Dharavi, historically ignored as informal housing, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. But they worry that this initiative – lacking community input – might transform valuable urban land into an elite enclave, forcing out the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have been there since generations ago.

These were these marginalized, migrant workers who established the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and commercial output, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and two million dollars a year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about one million residents living in the dense 220-hectare zone, less than 50% will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take a significant period to finish. Others will be transferred to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the remote edges of the metropolis, potentially divide a long-established community. A portion will be denied housing at all.

Residents permitted to stay in Dharavi will be provided apartments in tower blocks, a substantial change from the organic, collective approach of residing and operating that has sustained Dharavi for generations.

Businesses from garment work to ceramic crafts and recycling are likely to shrink in number and be transferred to a designated "industrial sector" separated from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

In the case of the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation resident to live in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His informal, three-storey workshop makes apparel – tailored coats, suede trenches, decorated jackets – marketed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and overseas.

Household members lives in the spaces below and employees and garment workers – laborers from north India – live there, enabling him to afford their labour. Outside this community, Mumbai rents are typically significantly more expensive for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the administrative buildings close by, a visual representation of the transformation initiative illustrates a contrasting perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, buying continental baguettes and breakfast items and socializing on a terrace near a restaurant and treat station. It is a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that maintains local residents.

"This represents no progress for us," explains the artisan. "It represents an enormous real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the development company. Headed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Although administrative bodies describes it as a joint project, the developer invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. Legal proceedings stating that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the corporation is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to actively protest the redevelopment, local opponents assert they have been experienced a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising communications, explicit warnings and implications that criticizing the initiative was tantamount to opposing national interests – by figures they claim are associated with the corporate group.

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