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Over an extended period, intimidating phone calls continued. At first, supposedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, and then from the authorities. In the end, a local artisan claims he was called to the police station and told clearly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many opposing a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces demolished and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The culture of the slum is like nowhere else in the globe," says Shaikh. "Yet their intention is to eradicate our community and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that overshadow the area. Dwellings are constructed informally and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is saturated with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and apartments with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision come true.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, roads or sewage systems and we have no places for kids to enjoy," states a chai seller, 56, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The only way is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, including this protester, are resisting the redevelopment.

None deny that this community, long neglected as informal housing, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. However they are concerned that this plan – absent of resident participation – might turn premium city property into a luxury development, displacing the marginalized, migrant communities who have resided there since the late 1800s.

It was these excluded, displaced people who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and economic productivity, whose production is valued at between a significant amount and $2m a year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about a million inhabitants living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, a minority will be eligible for new homes in the development, which is estimated to take a significant period to accomplish. The remainder will be transferred to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, threatening to divide a long-established neighborhood. Some will not get residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the area will be provided units in multi-story structures, a major break from the evolved, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has sustained this area for so long.

Industries from clothing production to ceramic crafts and material recovery are expected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to a specific "industrial sector" separated from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like the leather artisan, a leather artisan and long-time resident to call home Dharavi, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His informal, three-storey workshop creates apparel – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – sold in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

His family dwells in the rooms downstairs and employees and tailors – migrants from different regions – also sleep there, allowing him to afford their labour. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are often significantly as high for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

In the official facilities in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project illustrates a contrasting outlook. Fashionable inhabitants gather on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, acquiring continental baguettes and breakfast items and socializing on a terrace adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This depicts a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that maintains the neighborhood.

"This isn't development for residents," says the artisan. "It represents a huge property transaction that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the corporate group. Headed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the government head – the business group has encountered allegations of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Even as local authorities calls it a partnership, the developer invested $950m for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings claiming that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the developer is being considered in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to publicly resist the project, protesters and community members claim they have been experienced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – comprising communications, explicit warnings and implications that opposing the development was tantamount to opposing national interests – by people they assert work for the developer.

Part of the group alleged to have issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c