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Across several weeks, threatening phone calls persisted. Originally, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, later from the police themselves. Ultimately, a local artisan claims he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is part of a group resisting a expensive project where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be bulldozed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The culture of the slum is like nowhere else in the planet," explains Shaikh. "But the plan aims to destroy our community and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of the slum sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and elite residences that dominate the settlement. Residences are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and residences with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future come true.

"We don't have proper healthcare, paved pathways or sewage systems and we have no places for children to play," explains A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who relocated from his home state in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, including Shaikh, are resisting the redevelopment.

All recognize that the slum, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing investment and development. But they fear that this initiative – lacking public consultation – might transform valuable urban land into a luxury development, forcing out the marginalized, working-class residents who have been there since the late 1800s.

This involved these shunned, displaced people who developed the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and economic productivity, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and a substantial sum per year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about a million residents living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, a minority will be qualified for new homes in the development, which is estimated to take a significant period to complete. Others will be relocated to wastelands and salt plains on the distant periphery of the city, risking break up a long-established social network. A portion will receive no housing at all.

People eligible to continue living in the area will be provided units in high-rise buildings, a major break from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has supported the community for many years.

Businesses from clothing production to ceramic crafts and recycling are projected to shrink in number and be transferred to a designated "business area" far from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

For residents like the leather artisan, a leather artisan and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in the slum, the project presents an existential threat. His rickety, three-storey workshop makes garments – formal jackets, luxury coats, fashionable garments – marketed in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives resides in the rooms downstairs and employees and sewers – laborers from north India – also sleep there, permitting him to afford their labour. Away from the slum, Mumbai rents are typically significantly costlier for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the administrative buildings close by, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan illustrates a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed residents mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, purchasing continental baked goods and croissants and having coffee on an outdoor area near a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This depicts a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

"This is not improvement for residents," says Shaikh. "It represents a massive property transaction that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the corporate group. Headed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the national leader – the corporation has faced accusations of favoritism and questionable practices, which it denies.

Even as local authorities calls it a collaborative effort, the business group contributed $950m for its majority share. A lawsuit stating that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the developer is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

After they started to actively protest the development, local opponents claim they have been experienced an extended period of coercion and warning – including communications, clear intimidation and implications that speaking against the initiative was tantamount to opposing national interests – by people they claim represent the corporate group.

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