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For months, coercive phone calls recurred. At first, reportedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, and then from law enforcement directly. Finally, one resident claims he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and warned explicitly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is among those resisting a high-value redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The culture of the slum is like nowhere else in the globe," states Shaikh. "However they want to dismantle our community and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of this community present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the settlement. Residences are constructed informally and often without proper sanitation, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the environment is filled with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack sufficient health services, proper streets or drainage and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," says a chai seller, 56, who migrated from his home state in the early eighties. "The single option is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

However, some, like this protester, are resisting the project.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. However they fear that this initiative – without resident participation – is one that will transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these shunned, relocated individuals who built up the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose output is estimated at between one million dollars and two million dollars a year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Out of about a million inhabitants living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer area, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is expected to take a significant period to accomplish. Others will be relocated to wastelands and saline fields on the far outskirts of the city, threatening to break up a historic social network. Certain individuals will be denied housing at all.

Those allowed to remain in the neighborhood will be given apartments in tower blocks, a significant rupture from the evolved, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has supported this area for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to ceramic crafts and waste processing are expected to shrink in number and be moved to a specific "business area" far from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For residents like Shaikh, a craftsman and third generation resident to live in Dharavi, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His informal, multi-level workshop creates apparel – sharp blazers, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – distributed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

His family lives in the accommodations below and employees and garment workers – laborers from other states – reside on-site, allowing him to manage costs. Outside the slum, housing costs are typically tenfold costlier for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

In the government offices nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project illustrates an alternative outlook. Slickly dressed inhabitants move around on bicycles and electric vehicles, acquiring western-style bread and breakfast items and having coffee on a patio outside a coffee shop and treat station. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This represents no improvement for us," explains the artisan. "It's a massive real estate deal that will price people out for our community to continue."

There is also concern of the business conglomerate. Headed by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a close ally of the national leader – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Even as administrative bodies describes it as a joint project, the business group contributed $950m for its majority share. A lawsuit stating that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents state they have been experienced an extended period of coercion and warning – comprising messages, direct threats and implications that criticizing the initiative was comparable with opposing national interests – by people they assert are associated with the developer.

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