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For months, threatening phone calls recurred. Initially, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, and then from the police themselves. In the end, a local artisan claims he was summoned to the local precinct and told clearly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is one of many resisting a expensive project where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – faces demolished and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of this area is exceptional in the world," states Shaikh. "However their intention is to destroy our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of this community sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that loom over the area. Residences are assembled randomly and frequently without proper sanitation, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

To some, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and apartments with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision come true.

"There's no sufficient health services, roads or drainage and we have no places for youth to recreate," explains a chai seller, in his fifties, who relocated from southern India in the early eighties. "The only way is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

But others, including Shaikh, are opposing the project.

None deny that this community, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they fear that this initiative – lacking resident participation – might transform valuable urban land into a luxury development, forcing out the marginalized, immigrant populations who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

It was these marginalized, migrant workers who developed the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose output is valued at between one million dollars and $2m annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Out of about one million residents living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, less than 50% will be able for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to finish. The remainder will be moved to barren areas and saline fields on the distant periphery of Mumbai, risking break up a long-established neighborhood. Some will receive no homes at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be given apartments in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the natural, communal way of residing and operating that has maintained this area for so long.

Industries from tailoring to pottery and waste processing are projected to shrink in number and be moved to a specific "commercial zone" separated from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as this protester, a workshop owner and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in this community, the project presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level workshop produces leather coats – formal jackets, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

His family dwells in the accommodations below and laborers and tailors – migrants from different regions – reside in the same building, permitting him to manage costs. Away from the slum, Mumbai rents are typically significantly as high for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

In the government offices in the vicinity, a visual representation of the Dharavi project illustrates a very different vision for the future. Well-groomed inhabitants mill about on bicycles and e-vehicles, acquiring continental baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area near a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This is not improvement for us," says the artisan. "It represents an enormous land development that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

There is also skepticism of the corporate group. Run by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

While local authorities describes it as a collaborative effort, the developer invested a significant amount for its 80% stake. A case alleging that the project was questionably assigned to the corporation is pending in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to actively protest the development, protesters and community members state they have been faced ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – comprising communications, explicit warnings and suggestions that speaking against the development was tantamount to speaking against the country – by people they allege work for the developer.

Part of the group accused of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c