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For months, intimidating communications persisted. At first, supposedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, subsequently from the authorities. Finally, a local artisan claims he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is among those resisting a expensive project where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – faces bulldozed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is unparalleled in the world," explains Shaikh. "However their intention is to eradicate our way of life and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of this community stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that loom over the neighborhood. Homes are assembled randomly and frequently without proper sanitation, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is saturated with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

For certain residents, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and residences with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or sewage systems and we have no places for children to play," says a tea vendor, 56, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The only way is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, such as Shaikh, are opposing the project.

None deny that this community, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. Yet they are concerned that this plan – absent of resident participation – might turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, migrant workers who built up the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose economic value is worth between $1m and two million dollars a year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million inhabitants living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, less than 50% will be eligible for new homes in the project, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. Others will be moved to wastelands and coastal regions on the remote edges of Mumbai, potentially fragment a historic community. Certain individuals will not get residences at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the area will be allocated flats in tower blocks, a major break from the organic, collective approach of living and working that has maintained Dharavi for many years.

Industries from clothing production to pottery and waste processing are expected to decrease in quantity and be relocated to an allocated "industrial sector" separated from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

In the case of this protester, a craftsman and multi-generational inhabitant to live in Dharavi, the project presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, multi-level workshop creates leather coats – sharp blazers, luxury coats, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in south Mumbai and abroad.

His family lives in the rooms underneath and laborers and tailors – migrants from north India – live in the same building, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are often tenfold more expensive for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

Within the government offices in the vicinity, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan depicts a very different vision for the future. Well-groomed people move around on bicycles and electric vehicles, buying western-style baked goods and breakfast items and socializing on a terrace near a restaurant and treat station. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that supports Dharavi's community.

"This isn't development for us," explains the artisan. "It's an enormous land development that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

There is also distrust of the development company. Run by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Although administrative bodies labels it a partnership, the developer paid nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings alleging that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the business group is under review in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to actively protest the redevelopment, protesters and community members claim they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising communications, clear intimidation and implications that criticizing the project was tantamount to opposing national interests – by people they assert are associated with the business conglomerate.

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