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For months, intimidating phone calls recurred. Originally, supposedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, later from law enforcement directly. Finally, one resident states he was called to the police station and warned explicitly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many fighting a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces bulldozed and modernized by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is exceptional in the world," explains Shaikh. "However the plan aims to dismantle our way of life and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the neighborhood. Residences are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is permeated by the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

To some, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and residences with proper sanitation is an optimistic future achieved.

"There's no proper healthcare, roads or sewage systems and we have no places for youth to recreate," explains a chai seller, fifty-six, who migrated from southern India in that period. "The single option is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

But others, like Shaikh, are fighting against the project.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. Yet they worry that this initiative – absent of community input – could potentially convert premium city property into a playground for the rich, evicting the marginalized, working-class residents who have been there since the late 1800s.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who developed the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and commercial output, whose production is estimated at between a significant amount and $2m annually, making it a major informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly one million residents living in the packed sprawling zone, less than 50% will be eligible for new homes in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to finish. Additional residents will be relocated to barren areas and coastal regions on the remote edges of Mumbai, risking divide a historic neighborhood. A portion will be denied homes at all.

People eligible to continue living in the neighborhood will be given flats in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the natural, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has supported this area for so long.

Commercial activities from clothing production to ceramic crafts and material recovery are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "business area" separated from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of the leather artisan, a leather artisan and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in the slum, the project presents a fundamental risk. His informal, multi-level operation produces apparel – tailored coats, luxury coats, fashionable garments – distributed in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

His family dwells in the spaces downstairs and employees and garment workers – laborers from other states – also sleep in the same building, allowing him to manage costs. Away from Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are often tenfold costlier for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

At the government offices close by, a visual representation of the transformation initiative shows a very different outlook. Fashionable inhabitants mill about on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, acquiring continental baked goods and pastries and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. This depicts a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that supports local residents.

"This isn't development for us," explains the protester. "This constitutes a huge real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the business conglomerate. Managed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the national leader – the corporation has faced accusations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Although administrative bodies calls it a joint project, the developer invested a significant amount for its majority share. A lawsuit stating that the project was questionably assigned to the corporation is pending in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to actively protest the redevelopment, local opponents state they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving communications, explicit warnings and suggestions that speaking against the development was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they assert represent the developer.

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