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For months, threatening messages persisted. At first, reportedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, and then from the authorities. Ultimately, a local artisan states he was ordered to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is part of a group resisting a expensive redevelopment plan where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – will be razed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of this area is like nowhere else in the world," says the resident. "But their intention is to destroy our social fabric and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the area. Dwellings are assembled randomly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of high-end towers, neat parks, modern retail complexes and apartments with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or water management and we have no places for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, fifty-six, who migrated from his home state in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, such as this protester, are opposing the redevelopment.

All recognize that this community, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they fear that this plan – without resident participation – might convert valuable urban land into a luxury development, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have been there since the late 1800s.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who established the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between one million dollars and $2m a year, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly 1 million inhabitants living in the packed sprawling neighborhood, fewer than half will be qualified for replacement housing in the development, which is estimated to take seven years to accomplish. The remainder will be transferred to barren areas and salt plains on the far outskirts of the city, risking divide a historic neighborhood. A portion will be denied housing at all.

People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be provided flats in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the organic, collective approach of residing and operating that has sustained Dharavi for so long.

Industries from tailoring to ceramic crafts and recycling are expected to shrink in number and be relocated to an allocated "industrial sector" separated from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

In the case of this protester, a leather artisan and third generation of his family to live in the slum, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His makeshift, three-storey operation produces leather coats – sharp blazers, suede trenches, decorated jackets – sold in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

His family lives in the accommodations below and his workers and garment workers – workers from different regions – live there, enabling him to afford their labour. Outside Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are often significantly as high for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

At the official facilities in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project shows a very different vision for the future. Fashionable residents mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, buying western-style baked goods and breakfast items and socializing on an outdoor area adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and dessert parlor. This depicts a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that supports Dharavi's community.

"This isn't development for residents," explains the protester. "It represents a massive real estate deal that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists concern of the business conglomerate. Managed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the national leader – the corporation has encountered allegations of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Even as administrative bodies labels it a partnership, the corporation invested $950m for its majority share. A case claiming that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the developer is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to actively protest the project, local opponents assert they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving phone calls, direct threats and insinuations that criticizing the initiative was equivalent to opposing national interests – by individuals they allege work for the corporate group.

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