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Across several weeks, threatening phone calls continued. At first, supposedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, subsequently from law enforcement directly. In the end, one resident asserts he was summoned to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many opposing a expensive project where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be demolished and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The culture of Dharavi is unparalleled in the planet," says Shaikh. "Yet their intention is to eradicate our way of life and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of the slum sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the area. Residences are built haphazardly and often lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is saturated with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of luxury high-rises, neat parks, modern retail complexes and apartments with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision achieved.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or water management and we have no places for kids to enjoy," states a chai seller, in his fifties, who moved from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

But others, including the leather artisan, are opposing the redevelopment.

All recognize that the slum, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is in stark need investment and development. However they worry that this plan – without resident participation – might turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, evicting the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have been there since the nineteenth century.

It was these shunned, migrant workers who built up the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and business activity, whose economic value is worth between one million dollars and a substantial sum a year, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million people living in the packed sprawling area, a minority will be eligible for new homes in the redevelopment, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to complete. The remainder will be relocated to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the distant periphery of Mumbai, risking break up a generations-old community. A portion will be denied housing at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be provided apartments in high-rise buildings, a major break from the natural, communal way of living and working that has supported the community for many years.

Industries from clothing production to pottery and material recovery are expected to decrease in quantity and be relocated to a specific "business area" distant from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

For those such as Shaikh, a leather artisan and multi-generational resident to reside in the slum, the plan presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor facility produces garments – formal jackets, suede trenches, decorated jackets – distributed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and abroad.

Relatives lives in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and sewers – migrants from other states – live in the same building, permitting him to afford their labour. Away from this community, Mumbai rents are often 10 times as high for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the official facilities in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative illustrates a very different vision for the future. Slickly dressed residents move around on bicycles and electric vehicles, purchasing international bread and pastries and socializing on a terrace near Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. It is a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This represents no progress for us," says the artisan. "It represents a huge real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the business conglomerate. Managed by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has encountered allegations of favoritism and questionable practices, which it denies.

Although the state government labels it a partnership, the corporation contributed a significant amount for its majority share. A case claiming that the initiative was questionably assigned to the developer is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to publicly resist the redevelopment, local opponents state they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising phone calls, explicit warnings and insinuations that opposing the initiative was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by figures they allege are associated with the developer.

Part of the group suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c