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Across several weeks, coercive phone calls recurred. Initially, supposedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, later from the police themselves. Ultimately, one resident claims he was called to the local precinct and told clearly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is among those opposing a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces razed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the world," explains the protester. "However their intention is to destroy our way of life and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of this community stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that dominate the neighborhood. Homes are constructed informally and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and apartments with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or drainage and we have no places for children to play," says A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who moved from his home state in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

But others, such as this protester, are opposing the project.

None deny that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need economic input and modernization. However they worry that this project – lacking public consultation – might turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, displacing the marginalized, working-class residents who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

These were these marginalized, migrant workers who developed the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is estimated at between a significant amount and $2m a year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly one million inhabitants living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, fewer than half will be able for new homes in the project, which is estimated to take a significant period to complete. Others will be moved to wastelands and salt plains on the far outskirts of Mumbai, threatening to divide a long-established community. Certain individuals will not get homes at all.

Those allowed to stay in Dharavi will be allocated apartments in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the organic, collective approach of living and working that has maintained the community for many years.

Industries from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are projected to decrease in quantity and be moved to an allocated "commercial zone" separated from people's residences.

Existential Threat

In the case of Shaikh, a workshop owner and long-time resident to call home Dharavi, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His informal, multi-level workshop makes garments – tailored coats, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – marketed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives resides in the rooms downstairs and employees and sewers – workers from north India – also sleep in the same building, allowing him to afford their labour. Away from Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are often significantly more expensive for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the government offices in the vicinity, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan depicts an alternative outlook. Slickly dressed people gather on bicycles and electric vehicles, acquiring international baked goods and pastries and having coffee on a terrace outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. This represents a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This is not progress for residents," says the protester. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will price people out for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the business conglomerate. Run by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the national leader – the conglomerate has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

Even as local authorities labels it a partnership, the developer contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings claiming that the initiative was improperly granted to the corporation is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to publicly resist the development, local opponents assert they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – comprising messages, direct threats and suggestions that opposing the development was tantamount to speaking against the country – by figures they claim represent the developer.

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