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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls recurred. Originally, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, later from the authorities. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was ordered to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

This third-generation resident is one of many fighting a multimillion-dollar project where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be demolished and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of the slum is unparalleled in the globe," states the resident. "However they want to destroy our social fabric and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of the slum present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that dominate the settlement. Homes are constructed informally and frequently missing basic amenities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the environment is filled with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision achieved.

"There's no proper healthcare, proper streets or sewage systems and there's nowhere for children to play," explains A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who migrated from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, like Shaikh, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need investment and development. But they are concerned that this initiative – lacking community input – is one that will turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, evicting the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have resided there since the late 1800s.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who developed the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose production is worth between $1m and $2m annually, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Out of about 1 million residents living in the dense 220-hectare zone, less than 50% will be able for alternative accommodation in the development, which is expected to take seven years to finish. The remainder will be relocated to wastelands and saline fields on the remote edges of the metropolis, potentially divide a generations-old social network. Some will receive no housing at all.

Those allowed to remain in Dharavi will be allocated apartments in high-rise buildings, a major break from the organic, shared lifestyle of living and working that has sustained this area for many years.

Industries from tailoring to ceramic crafts and waste processing are likely to shrink in number and be transferred to a specific "business area" separated from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like this protester, a workshop owner and long-time resident to reside in the slum, the project presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level operation makes garments – formal jackets, premium outerwear, decorated jackets – distributed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

His family resides in the spaces below and laborers and garment workers – laborers from different regions – live on-site, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from this community, housing costs are frequently tenfold as high for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

Within the official facilities close by, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative illustrates a contrasting outlook. Fashionable people move around on cycles and electric vehicles, purchasing western-style baked goods and breakfast items and enlisting beverages on a patio outside a restaurant and dessert parlor. This depicts a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that maintains the neighborhood.

"This isn't development for our community," states Shaikh. "It's a huge land development that will render it impossible for us to survive."

There is also distrust of the business conglomerate. Headed by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the government head – the conglomerate has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

While administrative bodies calls it a joint project, the business group paid nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. A case alleging that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the business group is being considered in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to publicly resist the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been experienced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – comprising phone calls, direct threats and suggestions that opposing the development was equivalent to opposing national interests – by people they assert represent the developer.

Included in these accused of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c