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Over an extended period, intimidating phone calls continued. At first, allegedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, later from the police themselves. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is one of many fighting a high-value project where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces razed and modernized by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of the slum is unparalleled in the globe," says the resident. "However they want to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that dominate the settlement. Homes are constructed informally and often without proper sanitation, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the environment is filled with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and homes with two toilets is an optimistic future come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or water management and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," says a chai seller, fifty-six, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The single option is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are fighting against the plan.

None deny that the slum, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. Yet they worry that this project – without resident participation – could potentially transform valuable urban land into an elite enclave, displacing the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

These were these marginalized, displaced people who developed the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and business activity, whose economic value is estimated at between one million dollars and a substantial sum annually, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million inhabitants living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer zone, less than 50% will be eligible for new homes in the project, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. The remainder will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the remote edges of Mumbai, threatening to break up a long-established social network. A portion will be denied homes at all.

Those allowed to continue living in Dharavi will be provided flats in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the evolved, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has sustained the community for so long.

Industries from tailoring to ceramic crafts and material recovery are expected to shrink in number and be transferred to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of Shaikh, a leather artisan and long-time inhabitant to live in the slum, the plan presents an existential threat. His rickety, multi-level facility makes apparel – formal jackets, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

Relatives lives in the rooms downstairs and laborers and tailors – laborers from north India – also sleep there, enabling him to manage costs. Beyond the slum, housing costs are often 10 times costlier for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

In the government offices in the vicinity, a visual representation of the Dharavi project depicts a very different perspective. Fashionable residents move around on bicycles and electric vehicles, acquiring international bread and pastries and having coffee on a patio near a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that supports Dharavi's community.

"This is not improvement for our community," states the artisan. "This constitutes a massive land development that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the business conglomerate. Run by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the national leader – the business group has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Although the state government labels it a joint project, the business group invested nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A case alleging that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the corporation is pending in the top court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to publicly resist the project, Shaikh and other residents state they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and insinuations that speaking against the project was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by figures they allege represent the business conglomerate.

Among those suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c