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Over an extended period, intimidating phone calls recurred. Initially, supposedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, later from the police themselves. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is part of a group opposing a expensive initiative where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – will be bulldozed and modernized by a large business group.

"The culture of this area is exceptional in the planet," explains Shaikh. "However they want to dismantle our way of life and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that dominate the area. Homes are constructed informally and frequently lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of high-end towers, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and residences with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision realized.

"We don't have sufficient health services, paved pathways or water management and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," states a chai seller, 56, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

However, some, like the leather artisan, are fighting against the redevelopment.

All recognize that this community, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. Yet they worry that this plan – lacking community input – is one that will transform valuable urban land into a luxury development, displacing the lower-caste, migrant communities who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these excluded, displaced people who built up the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly a million residents living in the crowded 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be eligible for replacement housing in the development, which is projected to take a significant period to complete. Others will be transferred to wastelands and saline fields on the far outskirts of the city, threatening to break up a historic neighborhood. Certain individuals will not get residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be allocated apartments in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has supported the community for so long.

Businesses from clothing production to pottery and waste processing are projected to reduce in scale and be relocated to a designated "commercial zone" far from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of Shaikh, a leather artisan and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His informal, multi-level operation produces apparel – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

His family dwells in the spaces downstairs and his workers and sewers – migrants from different regions – live there, enabling him to manage costs. Beyond this community, Mumbai rents are frequently 10 times costlier for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

In the government offices in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project illustrates a very different vision for the future. Slickly dressed people mill about on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, purchasing western-style bread and breakfast items and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area near a coffee shop and treat station. This represents a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that maintains the neighborhood.

"This is not improvement for residents," explains the artisan. "It's an enormous property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's concern of the corporate group. Managed by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the government head – the corporation has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Even as local authorities describes it as a collaborative effort, the corporation invested nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. A case stating that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the project, protesters and community members assert they have been subjected to an extended period of coercion and warning – comprising messages, direct threats and suggestions that criticizing the project was comparable with speaking against the country – by people they claim work for the developer.

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