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For months, threatening messages persisted. At first, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is one of many resisting a high-value redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be razed and transformed by a large business group.

"The culture of Dharavi is unparalleled in the globe," explains the resident. "However their intention is to dismantle our community and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of the slum present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the settlement. Homes are built haphazardly and typically lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is permeated by the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream realized.

"There's no sufficient health services, roads or water management and we have no places for children to play," states a tea vendor, 56, who migrated from his home state in 1982. "The only way is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

But others, including the leather artisan, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. However they are concerned that this project – lacking resident participation – could potentially convert premium city property into a luxury development, forcing out the marginalized, working-class residents who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these excluded, displaced people who developed the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and business activity, whose economic value is valued at between a significant amount and a substantial sum per year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately 1 million residents living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, fewer than half will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Others will be relocated to barren areas and saline fields on the far outskirts of Mumbai, threatening to break up a historic social network. Certain individuals will not get housing at all.

People eligible to remain in the neighborhood will be provided flats in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the natural, communal way of dwelling and laboring that has maintained the community for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to pottery and recycling are projected to reduce in scale and be transferred to a designated "industrial sector" separated from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as Shaikh, a leather artisan and long-time of his family to call home Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-floor facility makes leather coats – tailored coats, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – distributed in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives dwells in the accommodations underneath and laborers and garment workers – migrants from north India – also sleep in the same building, allowing him to manage costs. Beyond this community, accommodation prices are frequently significantly costlier for a single room.

Threats and Warning

Within the official facilities nearby, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan illustrates an alternative outlook. Fashionable inhabitants gather on cycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring continental baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area near a restaurant and treat station. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

"This isn't improvement for our community," explains the artisan. "It's an enormous real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the business conglomerate. Managed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the national leader – the corporation has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Although local authorities calls it a joint project, the business group invested $950m for its 80% stake. A case stating that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the business group is being considered in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, local opponents assert they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – including phone calls, direct threats and suggestions that opposing the development was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by people they assert are associated with the developer.

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