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For months, threatening phone calls persisted. At first, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, a local artisan states he was ordered to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is one of many resisting a expensive project where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be demolished and transformed by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of this area is like nowhere else in the world," states Shaikh. "But they want to dismantle our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of this community stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that loom over the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and often missing basic amenities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the environment is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and apartments with two toilets is an optimistic future achieved.

"There's no sufficient health services, paved pathways or drainage and there are no spaces for children to play," states A Selvin Nadar, 56, who moved from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

But others, including Shaikh, are fighting against the redevelopment.

None deny that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. Yet they fear that this project – without resident participation – could potentially transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, displacing the marginalized, migrant communities who have lived there since the late 1800s.

It was these marginalized, migrant workers who built up the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and commercial output, whose production is estimated at between one million dollars and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately one million residents living in the crowded sprawling area, less than 50% will be able for new homes in the project, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to finish. The remainder will be relocated to barren areas and coastal regions on the remote edges of the metropolis, risking divide a long-established neighborhood. A portion will receive no housing at all.

Those allowed to remain in Dharavi will be given flats in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the natural, shared lifestyle of living and working that has sustained the community for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and waste processing are likely to decrease in quantity and be transferred to a specific "commercial zone" far from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and third generation inhabitant to call home this community, the project presents an existential threat. His makeshift, three-storey workshop makes leather coats – formal jackets, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives resides in the accommodations underneath and his workers and sewers – workers from north India – also sleep on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Away from this community, accommodation prices are frequently significantly costlier for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

In the government offices close by, a visual representation of the transformation initiative shows a very different outlook. Well-groomed people mill about on cycles and electric vehicles, purchasing continental bread and pastries and enlisting beverages on a patio adjacent to a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. It is a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that supports Dharavi's community.

"This isn't improvement for residents," says the artisan. "It's an enormous land development that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

There is also distrust of the business conglomerate. Headed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the business group has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Even as the state government labels it a partnership, the corporation invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. A lawsuit claiming that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to publicly resist the project, protesters and community members state they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising messages, direct threats and implications that criticizing the development was equivalent to opposing national interests – by people they assert represent the corporate group.

Among those alleged to have issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c