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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls recurred. Originally, supposedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, later from law enforcement directly. Finally, a local artisan asserts he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is one of many fighting a expensive redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is unparalleled in the globe," states the protester. "Yet their intention is to destroy our social fabric and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of the slum present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the settlement. Dwellings are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the air is permeated by the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of premium apartments, neat parks, modern retail complexes and homes with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision come true.

"We don't have sufficient health services, paved pathways or water management and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," explains A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from his home state in the early eighties. "The only way is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

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

All recognize that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. Yet they are concerned that this plan – absent of community input – might turn valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, forcing out the lower-caste, migrant communities who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these excluded, migrant workers who developed the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of community resilience and economic productivity, whose production is worth between a significant amount and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about a million inhabitants living in the dense 220-hectare area, less than 50% will be able for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is projected to take seven years to complete. The remainder will be transferred to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the distant periphery of the metropolis, potentially fragment a long-established social network. Certain individuals will receive no homes at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the neighborhood will be provided flats in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the natural, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has supported Dharavi for generations.

Businesses from clothing production to pottery and material recovery are projected to shrink in number and be transferred to a specific "commercial zone" far from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and long-time of his family to reside in the slum, the plan presents an existential threat. His rickety, multi-level workshop creates leather coats – sharp blazers, suede trenches, fashionable garments – distributed in premium stores in south Mumbai and abroad.

His family lives in the spaces underneath and laborers and tailors – workers from north India – reside there, allowing him to sustain operations. Away from this community, housing costs are typically tenfold as high for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

In the government offices nearby, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan shows an alternative perspective. Slickly dressed residents mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, purchasing continental baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area outside Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This represents a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't development for our community," says Shaikh. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists concern of the business conglomerate. Managed by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the government head – the corporation has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it denies.

Although the state government labels it a joint project, the corporation paid $950m for its controlling interest. A case alleging that the initiative was improperly granted to the business group is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to publicly resist the project, local opponents claim they have been subjected to an extended period of harassment and intimidation – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and implications that criticizing the development was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by individuals they claim are associated with the developer.

Included in these suspected of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c