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For months, threatening messages continued. At first, reportedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, and then from the police themselves. Finally, a local artisan claims he was summoned to the police station and told clearly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is one of many fighting a multimillion-dollar project where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces bulldozed and modernized by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of the slum is exceptional in the planet," says the protester. "However their intention is to destroy our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of this community stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and elite residences that overshadow the area. Homes are built haphazardly and typically lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or sewage systems and there are no spaces for children to play," says a tea vendor, fifty-six, who relocated from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

However, some, such as this protester, are fighting against the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing investment and development. However they worry that this initiative – without public consultation – might convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, forcing out the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have been there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who developed the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and business activity, whose output is estimated at between one million dollars and two million dollars per year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Out of about 1 million residents living in the packed 220-hectare zone, a minority will be eligible for new homes in the redevelopment, which is expected to take a significant period to complete. Others will be moved to barren areas and saline fields on the distant periphery of the metropolis, risking fragment a historic neighborhood. A portion will receive no homes at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be provided units in tower blocks, a substantial change from the organic, collective approach of living and working that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from clothing production to clay work and recycling are expected to shrink in number and be transferred to a designated "industrial sector" separated from residential areas.

Existential Threat

In the case of the leather artisan, a craftsman and long-time of his family to call home this community, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His informal, multi-level workshop creates garments – tailored coats, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – distributed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

His family dwells in the accommodations downstairs and employees and garment workers – laborers from north India – reside there, enabling him to afford their labour. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are often significantly as high for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the administrative buildings close by, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan shows a contrasting vision for the future. Well-groomed people mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, acquiring western-style baked goods and croissants and enlisting beverages on a terrace outside a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that sustains local residents.

"This isn't improvement for residents," says the artisan. "It represents an enormous land development that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the corporate group. Managed by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the national leader – the corporation has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Even as administrative bodies calls it a collaborative effort, the corporation invested a significant amount for its 80% stake. A case alleging that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the developer is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to actively protest the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been experienced ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – comprising messages, explicit warnings and implications that opposing the project was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by people they claim are associated with the business conglomerate.

Among those suspected of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c