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Over an extended period, intimidating communications recurred. Initially, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. Finally, a local artisan asserts he was called to the local precinct and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is part of a group opposing a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be razed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the world," says the resident. "Yet the plan aims to eradicate our social fabric and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and elite residences that loom over the neighborhood. Residences are built haphazardly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the environment is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream come true.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or sewage systems and there's nowhere for children to play," says a chai seller, 56, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

But others, such as this protester, are resisting the plan.

None deny that the slum, historically ignored as informal housing, is in stark need economic input and modernization. However they worry that this initiative – without public consultation – is one that will transform valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, displacing the lower-caste, migrant communities who have been there since the late 1800s.

It was these shunned, displaced people who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is valued at between one million dollars and $2m annually, making it a major unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about one million inhabitants living in the packed sprawling neighborhood, less than 50% will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the development, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to complete. Additional residents will be relocated to barren areas and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the metropolis, threatening to divide a generations-old community. Certain individuals will be denied homes at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the neighborhood will be provided apartments in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, shared lifestyle of living and working that has supported the community for many years.

Businesses from tailoring to pottery and waste processing are likely to reduce in scale and be relocated to a designated "industrial sector" separated from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

In the case of the leather artisan, a leather artisan and multi-generational of his family to live in this community, the project presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-storey facility makes garments – formal jackets, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – sold in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Household members resides in the spaces downstairs and his workers and sewers – workers from north India – live there, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are frequently significantly as high for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the administrative buildings nearby, a conceptual model of the transformation initiative illustrates a very different perspective. Well-groomed residents gather on cycles and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style bread and breakfast items and having coffee on a patio outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This depicts a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that maintains the neighborhood.

"This is not improvement for residents," explains the protester. "This constitutes a massive property transaction that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

There is also concern of the business conglomerate. Run by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Although administrative bodies calls it a collaborative effort, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. A lawsuit stating that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the developer is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, local opponents claim they have been subjected to an extended period of harassment and intimidation – involving messages, direct threats and implications that criticizing the initiative was comparable with opposing national interests – by figures they claim are associated with the corporate group.

Among those alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c