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Over an extended period, coercive communications continued. At first, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, a local artisan states he was called to the police station and told clearly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is among those fighting a multimillion-dollar initiative where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – will be razed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," says the resident. "But they want to destroy our way of life and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of the slum present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that overshadow the settlement. Dwellings are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is filled with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

To some, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or drainage and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," says a tea vendor, 56, who relocated from his home state in that period. "The only way is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, like Shaikh, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, long neglected as informal housing, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they are concerned that this project – lacking public consultation – is one that will turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, evicting the lower-caste, working-class residents who have been there since the nineteenth century.

These were these shunned, displaced people who established the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and business activity, whose economic value is estimated at between a significant amount and a substantial sum annually, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about 1 million residents living in the packed 220-hectare area, less than 50% will be eligible for new homes in the project, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. The remainder will be relocated to wastelands and saline fields on the far outskirts of Mumbai, risking divide a historic social network. Some will be denied homes at all.

Those allowed to continue living in Dharavi will be provided apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the evolved, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from clothing production to ceramic crafts and waste processing are projected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to a designated "commercial zone" distant from homes.

Existential Threat

For residents like Shaikh, a workshop owner and third generation inhabitant to call home Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-floor operation makes apparel – tailored coats, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

His family dwells in the spaces below and his workers and sewers – laborers from different regions – reside on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Away from Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times as high for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

At the administrative buildings nearby, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project shows an alternative outlook. Well-groomed people gather on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, buying western-style baguettes and croissants and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and treat station. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that supports local residents.

"This isn't progress for us," states the artisan. "It represents a huge real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the development company. Run by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it denies.

Although administrative bodies calls it a collaborative effort, the corporation paid $950m for its majority share. A lawsuit claiming that the project was unfairly awarded to the developer is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to actively protest the project, local opponents state they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving messages, clear intimidation and suggestions that speaking against the project was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by people they allege are associated with the corporate group.

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