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Over an extended period, coercive phone calls persisted. At first, supposedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, later from the police themselves. Finally, a local artisan states he was called to the police station and warned explicitly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many fighting a expensive redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be demolished and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," states the resident. "However their intention is to eradicate our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that loom over the neighborhood. Homes are built haphazardly and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the air is saturated with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

To some, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of luxury high-rises, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and apartments with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or water management and we have no places for youth to recreate," states A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who relocated from his home state in that period. "The only way is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are fighting against the project.

All recognize that Dharavi, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. However they worry that this project – absent of public consultation – might convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who developed the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose output is worth between $1m and two million dollars per year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly one million residents living in the packed sprawling area, fewer than half will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to finish. Others will be transferred to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the distant periphery of Mumbai, threatening to divide a generations-old community. Certain individuals will receive no residences at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be provided apartments in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of living and working that has supported Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from clothing production to pottery and waste processing are expected to reduce in scale and be transferred to a designated "industrial sector" separated from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For those such as the leather artisan, a workshop owner and multi-generational of his family to reside in the slum, the plan presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-storey facility creates garments – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

His family lives in the spaces underneath and laborers and tailors – workers from other states – also sleep there, permitting him to manage costs. Away from the slum, Mumbai rents are frequently tenfold as high for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

At the official facilities in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the transformation initiative shows a very different perspective. Fashionable residents gather on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, buying continental baked goods and pastries and having coffee on a terrace outside Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that maintains the neighborhood.

"This is not development for our community," explains the protester. "It represents a huge property transaction that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

There is also concern of the corporate group. Run by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the business group has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

While administrative bodies labels it a collaborative effort, the developer contributed $950m for its majority share. Legal proceedings stating that the project was improperly granted to the corporation is under review in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to publicly resist the project, local opponents state they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – comprising messages, clear intimidation and implications that opposing the initiative was equivalent to opposing national interests – by individuals they assert work for the developer.

Among those accused of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c