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Over an extended period, intimidating phone calls persisted. At first, supposedly from a retired cop and a former defense officer, later from the police themselves. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is one of many opposing a high-value project where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be bulldozed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," says the resident. "But they want to eradicate our community and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the area. Homes are constructed informally and typically missing basic amenities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and apartments with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or sewage systems and we have no places for youth to recreate," explains a chai seller, in his fifties, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The single option is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, including this protester, are resisting the plan.

None deny that the slum, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. Yet they are concerned that this project – lacking public consultation – could potentially transform premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who built up the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of community resilience and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between $1m and two million dollars a year, making it a major unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about a million residents living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, fewer than half will be qualified for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is projected to take a significant period to finish. Additional residents will be relocated to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the remote edges of the city, potentially fragment a historic community. Certain individuals will receive no housing at all.

Those allowed to stay in the area will be provided units in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the natural, collective approach of living and working that has maintained the community for so long.

Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and waste processing are likely to reduce in scale and be transferred to a designated "business area" separated from homes.

Existential Threat

For those such as the leather artisan, a workshop owner and third generation of his family to call home Dharavi, the project presents an existential threat. His informal, multi-level workshop creates leather coats – tailored coats, luxury coats, decorated jackets – distributed in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and internationally.

Household members resides in the rooms underneath and laborers and tailors – migrants from other states – live there, permitting him to manage costs. Away from the slum, housing costs are typically tenfold more expensive for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

At the government offices close by, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan shows a very different perspective. Slickly dressed residents move around on bicycles and e-vehicles, acquiring international bread and croissants and having coffee on a patio adjacent to a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. It is a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that sustains the neighborhood.

"This isn't progress for our community," says the artisan. "It represents a huge property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the business conglomerate. Run by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and an associate of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Although the state government calls it a joint project, the business group invested a significant amount for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings alleging that the project was questionably assigned to the developer is being considered in the top court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to vocally oppose the redevelopment, local opponents state they have been experienced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving messages, clear intimidation and insinuations that criticizing the development was tantamount to opposing national interests – by figures they allege represent the corporate group.

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