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Across several weeks, intimidating communications continued. At first, supposedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, later from the police themselves. In the end, a local artisan claims he was ordered to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is among those resisting a expensive initiative where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be razed and transformed by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of the slum is exceptional in the planet," says the protester. "But their intention is to destroy our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the settlement. Dwellings are constructed informally and frequently lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

To some, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of premium apartments, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and homes with two toilets is an aspirational dream achieved.

"There's no proper healthcare, roads or drainage and we have no places for youth to recreate," states a chai seller, fifty-six, who migrated from his home state in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

But others, like this protester, are fighting against the plan.

All recognize that the slum, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. But they fear that this plan – without community input – is one that will convert valuable urban land into a luxury development, evicting the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these excluded, relocated individuals who developed the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between $1m and two million dollars a year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly a million residents living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be eligible for replacement housing in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Additional residents will be relocated to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, risking fragment a long-established neighborhood. A portion will receive no residences at all.

People eligible to remain in the area will be provided apartments in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the evolved, shared lifestyle of living and working that has sustained Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from garment work to pottery and recycling are likely to shrink in number and be moved to an allocated "industrial sector" separated from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a craftsman and multi-generational inhabitant to live in this community, the project presents an existential threat. His makeshift, three-floor facility produces leather coats – sharp blazers, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – marketed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and internationally.

His family resides in the rooms downstairs and laborers and tailors – laborers from north India – reside in the same building, allowing him to manage costs. Outside this community, accommodation prices are typically tenfold more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

At the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative depicts a very different perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, buying western-style baguettes and pastries and enlisting beverages on a patio near a restaurant and Ice-Cream. It is a world away from the affordable idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that supports the neighborhood.

"This isn't development for our community," states Shaikh. "It's a huge property transaction that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

There is also skepticism of the development company. Run by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a close ally of the national leader – the business group has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it disputes.

While the state government labels it a collaborative effort, the business group invested nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A case stating that the project was improperly granted to the business group is under review in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents state they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – including communications, clear intimidation and implications that speaking against the initiative was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by people they claim are associated with the corporate group.

Included in these accused of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c