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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls recurred. Initially, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, subsequently from the authorities. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was summoned to the police station and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many opposing a multimillion-dollar initiative where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be razed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is unparalleled in the world," explains the resident. "But they want to dismantle our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that overshadow the settlement. Residences are assembled randomly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is permeated by the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and residences with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision realized.

"We don't have proper healthcare, proper streets or drainage and there's nowhere for children to play," explains a chai seller, fifty-six, who migrated from southern India in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, such as Shaikh, are opposing the redevelopment.

None deny that Dharavi, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing investment and development. Yet they are concerned that this initiative – lacking public consultation – could potentially transform valuable urban land into an elite enclave, evicting the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

These were these shunned, relocated individuals who developed the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between a significant amount and $2m per year, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately a million residents living in the packed sprawling neighborhood, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is projected to take seven years to finish. Additional residents will be moved to barren areas and salt plains on the far outskirts of Mumbai, potentially fragment a long-established community. Some will be denied residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the neighborhood will be provided flats in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the natural, collective approach of living and working that has sustained the community for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and recycling are projected to shrink in number and be transferred to a designated "business area" distant from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like this protester, a workshop owner and multi-generational inhabitant to live in this community, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His informal, multi-level workshop makes leather coats – formal jackets, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – marketed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and abroad.

Household members resides in the rooms downstairs and employees and garment workers – migrants from other states – reside in the same building, enabling him to afford their labour. Beyond this community, Mumbai rents are typically tenfold costlier for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

In the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project depicts a very different outlook. Fashionable residents gather on bicycles and electric vehicles, buying western-style baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on a patio near a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This is not improvement for us," states the artisan. "It's an enormous property transaction that will price people out for our community to continue."

There is also concern of the business conglomerate. Headed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and an associate of the government head – the business group has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

While administrative bodies labels it a collaborative effort, the developer contributed nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit claiming that the project was improperly granted to the business group is pending in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the development, protesters and community members state they have been experienced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – comprising messages, clear intimidation and implications that speaking against the initiative was comparable with speaking against the country – by figures they allege are associated with the corporate group.

Included in these alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c