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For months, threatening phone calls recurred. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, and then from the police themselves. Ultimately, a local artisan claims he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is one of many opposing a expensive project where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – faces bulldozed and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is like nowhere else in the planet," says the resident. "But the plan aims to dismantle our social fabric and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that overshadow the neighborhood. Residences are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is permeated by the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

To some, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of premium apartments, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and apartments with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or drainage and we have no places for kids to enjoy," states A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

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

None deny that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need economic input and modernization. But they fear that this plan – absent of public consultation – might turn premium city property into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, working-class residents who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who developed the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and business activity, whose output is valued at between $1m and two million dollars per year, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly 1 million inhabitants living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer zone, fewer than half will be eligible for new homes in the development, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. Others will be transferred to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the distant periphery of Mumbai, risking divide a long-established community. Some will be denied housing at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the area will be allocated apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the evolved, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has supported this area for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to pottery and waste processing are projected to shrink in number and be transferred to a specific "industrial sector" separated from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like this protester, a workshop owner and multi-generational of his family to call home Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey facility produces apparel – formal jackets, luxury coats, decorated jackets – distributed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and abroad.

His family lives in the rooms downstairs and employees and tailors – migrants from different regions – reside on-site, permitting him to sustain operations. Outside the slum, Mumbai rents are frequently 10 times more expensive for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

In the government offices nearby, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan depicts a contrasting outlook. Slickly dressed inhabitants gather on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, buying international bread and croissants and socializing on a patio outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This represents a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that supports local residents.

"This isn't development for residents," says Shaikh. "It represents a massive real estate deal that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's concern of the development company. Headed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has been subject to claims of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Although the state government describes it as a collaborative effort, the business group paid $950m for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings claiming that the project was questionably assigned to the business group is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to publicly resist the development, protesters and community members claim they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – involving communications, explicit warnings and implications that opposing the initiative was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they allege are associated with the developer.

Included in these alleged to have issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c