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Across several weeks, intimidating phone calls continued. Originally, supposedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, subsequently from law enforcement directly. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is part of a group fighting a multimillion-dollar initiative where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be razed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The culture of this area is like nowhere else in the world," states Shaikh. "Yet they want to dismantle our way of life and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of the slum sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that overshadow the neighborhood. Residences are built haphazardly and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is saturated with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and apartments with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision achieved.

"We don't have proper healthcare, paved pathways or drainage and there are no spaces for children to play," says a tea vendor, 56, who moved from his home state in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, such as this protester, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need investment and development. But they worry that this project – absent of public consultation – is one that will convert valuable urban land into an elite enclave, forcing out the marginalized, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and commercial output, whose economic value is estimated at between a significant amount and a substantial sum a year, making it among the globe's biggest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly one million inhabitants living in the dense sprawling area, a minority will be qualified for new homes in the redevelopment, which is expected to take seven years to finish. The remainder will be moved to barren areas and salt plains on the far outskirts of the city, potentially break up a long-established community. Some will not get housing at all.

Those allowed to remain in the area will be allocated apartments in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has supported Dharavi for many years.

Commercial activities from tailoring to ceramic crafts and recycling are projected to shrink in number and be relocated to an allocated "business area" far from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of Shaikh, a workshop owner and multi-generational resident to call home this community, the plan presents an existential threat. His informal, three-floor workshop makes leather coats – formal jackets, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – marketed in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

Relatives lives in the accommodations downstairs and laborers and garment workers – laborers from other states – reside on-site, permitting him to manage costs. Beyond this community, housing costs are typically 10 times as high for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

In the administrative buildings nearby, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project illustrates an alternative vision for the future. Well-groomed residents mill about on cycles and electric vehicles, acquiring western-style baguettes and pastries and having coffee on an outdoor area outside a restaurant and dessert parlor. This represents a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This represents no progress for our community," states the artisan. "This constitutes a huge real estate deal that will price people out for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's concern of the corporate group. Managed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the business group has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and financial impropriety, which it denies.

While local authorities describes it as a partnership, the corporation paid a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings claiming that the initiative was questionably assigned to the corporation is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

After they started to actively protest the project, local opponents claim they have been faced a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – including messages, explicit warnings and implications that criticizing the development was equivalent to speaking against the country – by figures they assert represent the developer.

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