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For months, intimidating communications persisted. Originally, supposedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, later from law enforcement directly. Finally, one resident asserts he was ordered to the police station and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is among those resisting a high-value project where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be bulldozed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of the slum is like nowhere else in the planet," says the resident. "However they want to destroy our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the neighborhood. Residences are constructed informally and often lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is permeated by the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

Among some individuals, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, neat parks, modern retail complexes and apartments with proper sanitation is an optimistic future come true.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," says a chai seller, fifty-six, who relocated from southern India in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Local Protest

However, some, such as this protester, are resisting the redevelopment.

All recognize that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing investment and development. But they are concerned that this initiative – without community input – might convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, evicting the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, migrant workers who built up the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and business activity, whose production is estimated at between one million dollars and a substantial sum annually, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly 1 million inhabitants living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer area, a minority will be able for new homes in the project, which is estimated to take seven years to accomplish. Additional residents will be transferred to barren areas and salt plains on the remote edges of Mumbai, threatening to fragment a historic community. A portion will not get homes at all.

People eligible to remain in the area will be allocated units in tower blocks, a major break from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has sustained this area for many years.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and recycling are likely to decrease in quantity and be relocated to a designated "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For those such as Shaikh, a craftsman and third generation of his family to reside in this community, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey facility creates garments – formal jackets, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – distributed in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and internationally.

His family dwells in the spaces downstairs and his workers and sewers – laborers from different regions – also sleep on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Outside the slum, accommodation prices are frequently tenfold as high for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

At the administrative buildings close by, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project illustrates a very different perspective. Well-groomed people mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, buying international baguettes and croissants and having coffee on an outdoor area adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This depicts a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that supports local residents.

"This is not development for us," says the protester. "This constitutes a massive property transaction that will price people out for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the business conglomerate. Run by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a supporter of the national leader – the business group has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

Even as local authorities calls it a partnership, the corporation invested nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A case stating that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the corporation is being considered in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – including phone calls, direct threats and insinuations that opposing the project was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by people they assert work for the developer.

Among those suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c