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For months, intimidating phone calls continued. Initially, reportedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, and then from the police themselves. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is part of a group opposing a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – will be bulldozed and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," explains the protester. "Yet they want to destroy our community and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the neighborhood. Dwellings are built haphazardly and typically missing basic amenities, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the air is permeated by the suffocating smell of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and apartments with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision come true.

"There's no proper healthcare, roads or sewage systems and we have no places for youth to recreate," says a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

But others, such as the leather artisan, are fighting against the project.

None deny that this community, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need financial support and improvement. Yet they fear that this initiative – absent of resident participation – might turn valuable urban land into an elite enclave, forcing out the marginalized, migrant communities who have resided there since the late 1800s.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who established the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and business activity, whose output is valued at between a significant amount and $2m annually, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately 1 million residents living in the packed 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be able for alternative accommodation in the development, which is expected to take seven years to complete. Others will be moved to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the distant periphery of the city, threatening to divide a generations-old community. Some will receive no homes at all.

Those allowed to stay in Dharavi will be allocated units in tower blocks, a major break from the natural, collective approach of residing and operating that has supported this area for generations.

Commercial activities from clothing production to ceramic crafts and recycling are projected to decrease in quantity and be moved to a specific "business area" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like Shaikh, a craftsman and third generation inhabitant to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-storey facility creates apparel – sharp blazers, luxury coats, decorated jackets – sold in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

His family dwells in the accommodations downstairs and laborers and garment workers – workers from other states – also sleep on-site, permitting him to afford their labour. Outside this community, Mumbai rents are typically significantly costlier for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the official facilities close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting perspective. Fashionable inhabitants move around on bicycles and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style baguettes and breakfast items and socializing on a patio adjacent to a coffee shop and treat station. This represents a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that supports the neighborhood.

"This isn't development for our community," explains the protester. "It's an enormous property transaction that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the business conglomerate. Run by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the government head – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Although local authorities describes it as a partnership, the corporation invested $950m for its majority share. A case alleging that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to publicly resist the development, protesters and community members assert they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – including phone calls, clear intimidation and insinuations that opposing the project was tantamount to speaking against the country – by people they allege work for the developer.

Among those accused of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c