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Across several weeks, threatening phone calls recurred. Originally, allegedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, and then from the police themselves. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was summoned to the local precinct and warned explicitly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is part of a group resisting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be demolished and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," explains the protester. "But the plan aims to eradicate our community and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of this community sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that overshadow the settlement. Homes are constructed informally and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

To some, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and apartments with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream realized.

"There's no proper healthcare, roads or drainage and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," states 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 provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

However, some, including Shaikh, are opposing the project.

All recognize that Dharavi, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. But they fear that this initiative – without resident participation – is one that will transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have been there since generations ago.

It was these excluded, relocated individuals who established the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and commercial output, whose production is valued at between $1m and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately 1 million inhabitants living in the dense sprawling zone, less than 50% will be able for new homes in the project, which is expected to take seven years to finish. The remainder will be moved to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the metropolis, risking divide a long-established social network. Some will receive no housing at all.

Residents permitted to continue living in the neighborhood will be allocated apartments in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of living and working that has supported this area for generations.

Commercial activities from garment work to clay work and waste processing are likely to reduce in scale and be transferred to a specific "business area" distant from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

For residents like the leather artisan, a workshop owner and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in this community, the project presents an existential threat. His rickety, three-storey facility produces apparel – tailored coats, suede trenches, decorated jackets – marketed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Household members dwells in the rooms downstairs and his workers and tailors – migrants from other states – reside there, enabling him to manage costs. Away from the slum, Mumbai rents are often tenfold more expensive for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the administrative buildings in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project shows a very different vision for the future. Slickly dressed inhabitants move around on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, buying international baked goods and pastries and socializing on a terrace near Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This depicts a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that supports the neighborhood.

"This isn't improvement for residents," states the artisan. "It's a huge land development that will price people out for our community to continue."

There is also skepticism of the corporate group. Run by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a supporter of the national leader – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it denies.

While the state government describes it as a partnership, the business group invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. A case alleging that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the developer is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to vocally oppose the project, Shaikh and other residents state they have been experienced ongoing efforts of coercion and warning – comprising phone calls, explicit warnings and insinuations that opposing the development was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they claim represent the corporate group.

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