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Across several weeks, intimidating messages recurred. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, and then from the authorities. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was summoned to the police station and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is part of a group fighting a high-value project where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – faces bulldozed and transformed by a large business group.

"The culture of the slum is like nowhere else in the world," says the resident. "Yet the plan aims to destroy our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of this community present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that loom over the neighborhood. Residences are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

To some, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and homes with two toilets is an aspirational dream realized.

"We don't have proper healthcare, roads or drainage and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," says a chai seller, fifty-six, who relocated from his home state in the early eighties. "The only way is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

But others, such as this protester, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, long neglected as informal housing, is in stark need economic input and modernization. But they worry that this project – without resident participation – could potentially turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have been there since the late 1800s.

These were these marginalized, migrant workers who built up the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of community resilience and commercial output, whose economic value is estimated at between a significant amount and $2m annually, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly 1 million residents living in the packed sprawling area, a minority will be eligible for new homes in the redevelopment, which is expected to take a significant period to accomplish. Others will be transferred to wastelands and coastal regions on the remote edges of the city, potentially divide a historic community. Some will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be allocated apartments in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of residing and operating that has maintained the community for many years.

Commercial activities from garment work to clay work and material recovery are likely to shrink in number and be moved to an allocated "business area" far from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

In the case of the leather artisan, a workshop owner and long-time resident to call home the slum, the project presents an existential threat. His informal, multi-level operation makes garments – sharp blazers, suede trenches, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Relatives lives in the rooms underneath and his workers and tailors – workers from north India – reside on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Away from this community, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times more expensive for a single room.

Threats and Warning

Within the official facilities close by, a visual representation of the Dharavi project illustrates a very different perspective. Well-groomed residents move around on bicycles and e-vehicles, purchasing western-style baked goods and breakfast items and having coffee on a patio adjacent to a restaurant and treat station. This depicts a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This is not development for us," explains the artisan. "It's a massive land development that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's concern of the business conglomerate. Managed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it denies.

While local authorities labels it a partnership, the developer contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings claiming that the project was unfairly awarded to the business group is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to vocally oppose the project, local opponents state they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – comprising communications, clear intimidation and insinuations that criticizing the development was comparable with opposing national interests – by individuals they assert represent the corporate group.

Included in these accused of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c