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Across several weeks, threatening communications continued. At first, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, later from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, one resident asserts he was ordered to the police station and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is one of many opposing a high-value initiative where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – faces demolished and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is unparalleled in the planet," says the resident. "But their intention is to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that dominate the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

Among some individuals, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and apartments with two toilets is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We don't have sufficient health services, proper streets or sewage systems and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," explains a chai seller, fifty-six, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are fighting against the project.

All recognize that this community, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. But they fear that this project – lacking public consultation – could potentially convert premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the lower-caste, working-class residents who have lived there since the late 1800s.

These were these excluded, migrant workers who developed the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of community resilience and business activity, whose economic value is estimated at between $1m and a substantial sum a year, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly one million inhabitants living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer zone, a minority will be able for new homes in the project, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. Others will be moved to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the distant periphery of Mumbai, threatening to break up a long-established social network. Certain individuals will receive no housing at all.

Those allowed to stay in the area will be given flats in high-rise buildings, a major break from the natural, communal way of residing and operating that has maintained the community for so long.

Businesses from clothing production to clay work and waste processing are likely to decrease in quantity and be transferred to a specific "commercial zone" separated from people's residences.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a workshop owner and third generation of his family to live in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His makeshift, multi-level workshop makes apparel – tailored coats, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

His family resides in the accommodations below and employees and tailors – laborers from other states – reside there, allowing him to manage costs. Outside this community, Mumbai rents are typically tenfold more expensive for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the government offices in the vicinity, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan shows an alternative perspective. Well-groomed residents gather on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring continental bread and croissants and enlisting beverages on a patio near a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This represents a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that supports Dharavi's community.

"This represents no improvement for our community," states the artisan. "It's a huge real estate deal that will price people out for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists concern of the corporate group. Run by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has faced accusations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Although the state government describes it as a joint project, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. Legal proceedings claiming that the initiative was improperly granted to the business group is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to actively protest the development, local opponents assert they have been faced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – including messages, direct threats and insinuations that opposing the initiative was tantamount to opposing national interests – by people they assert work for the developer.

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