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Across several weeks, intimidating messages continued. At first, supposedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, and then from law enforcement directly. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many resisting a high-value project where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and modernized by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is like nowhere else in the planet," states Shaikh. "But they want to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and elite residences that overshadow the area. Dwellings are assembled randomly and typically missing basic amenities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the environment is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

To some, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and homes with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, roads or drainage and we have no places for youth to recreate," explains a chai seller, 56, who moved from southern India in the early eighties. "The single option is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

But others, like the leather artisan, are resisting the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, historically ignored as informal housing, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. But they are concerned that this plan – without public consultation – might transform valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, evicting the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

These were these shunned, displaced people who built up the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between $1m and $2m annually, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly one million inhabitants living in the packed sprawling zone, less than 50% will be qualified for new homes in the development, which is expected to take seven years to complete. Others will be transferred to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the far outskirts of the metropolis, risking divide a long-established community. A portion will receive no housing at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be provided apartments in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has sustained the community for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to clay work and waste processing are likely to reduce in scale and be relocated to an allocated "business area" separated from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation of his family to call home the slum, the plan presents an existential threat. His makeshift, three-storey facility makes apparel – tailored coats, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – sold in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Household members dwells in the rooms below and laborers and tailors – migrants from other states – reside there, enabling him to manage costs. Away from this community, Mumbai rents are often significantly as high for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan illustrates a very different outlook. Fashionable inhabitants gather on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, purchasing continental baguettes and pastries and having coffee on a patio outside Dharavi Cafe and treat station. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This is not improvement for our community," says the artisan. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will price people out for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the development company. Headed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Although administrative bodies describes it as a collaborative effort, the business group contributed $950m for its 80% stake. A case alleging that the project was unfairly awarded to the business group is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

After they started to vocally oppose the development, local opponents assert they have been faced ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – including messages, clear intimidation and insinuations that opposing the initiative was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they claim are associated with the business conglomerate.

Part of the group accused of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c