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Across several weeks, intimidating phone calls persisted. At first, reportedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, and then from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, one resident claims he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is one of many fighting a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – faces demolished and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the planet," says Shaikh. "Yet the plan aims to destroy our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that dominate the neighborhood. Dwellings are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the environment is saturated with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and apartments with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, roads or sewage systems and there are no spaces for children to play," explains a chai seller, 56, who moved from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The only way is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, such as the leather artisan, are resisting the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need investment and development. But they worry that this initiative – without public consultation – is one that will turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, forcing out the marginalized, working-class residents who have been there since generations ago.

This involved these marginalized, relocated individuals who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and commercial output, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and $2m annually, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately a million inhabitants living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, fewer than half will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is projected to take seven years to complete. Additional residents will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the distant periphery of Mumbai, threatening to divide a long-established social network. Certain individuals will receive no residences at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the neighborhood will be given apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has sustained this area for many years.

Industries from clothing production to pottery and recycling are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to a specific "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of the leather artisan, a workshop owner and multi-generational resident to call home this community, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey facility makes apparel – tailored coats, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – marketed in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the spaces downstairs and employees and sewers – workers from other states – reside on-site, permitting him to sustain operations. Outside Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times more expensive for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the administrative buildings close by, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan illustrates an alternative vision for the future. Well-groomed people move around on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, buying continental baked goods and breakfast items and socializing on an outdoor area near Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This depicts a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that maintains local residents.

"This represents no improvement for us," says the artisan. "It represents a massive property transaction that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the business conglomerate. Managed by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the government head – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Even as administrative bodies calls it a joint project, the business group paid $950m for its 80% stake. A lawsuit alleging that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to publicly resist the development, Shaikh and other residents state they have been subjected to an extended period of harassment and intimidation – comprising communications, clear intimidation and implications that criticizing the initiative was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by figures they allege are associated with the business conglomerate.

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