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Across several weeks, threatening communications recurred. Initially, allegedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, and then from law enforcement directly. In the end, one resident states he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is among those resisting a expensive initiative where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces demolished and modernized by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the planet," explains the protester. "However the plan aims to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and elite residences that loom over the settlement. Residences are assembled randomly and often lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is filled with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack proper healthcare, roads or water management and we have no places for youth to recreate," says A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who migrated from southern India in 1982. "The single option is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Local Protest

However, some, such as this protester, are opposing the redevelopment.

None deny that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. Yet they fear that this initiative – absent of public consultation – is one that will convert premium city property into an elite enclave, evicting the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

It was these excluded, relocated individuals who built up the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between a significant amount and a substantial sum per year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly one million inhabitants living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, a minority will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Additional residents will be moved to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, risking divide a historic neighborhood. Certain individuals will be denied homes at all.

People eligible to remain in Dharavi will be provided apartments in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has supported the community for so long.

Businesses from garment work to clay work and waste processing are projected to reduce in scale and be moved to a specific "business area" separated from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a craftsman and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in the slum, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level workshop makes apparel – tailored coats, suede trenches, decorated jackets – distributed in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

His family dwells in the spaces underneath and employees and sewers – workers from other states – also sleep there, permitting him to manage costs. Away from this community, housing costs are typically 10 times more expensive for a single room.

Threats and Warning

At the official facilities in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project illustrates an alternative outlook. Well-groomed inhabitants mill about on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, acquiring international baked goods and croissants and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area adjacent to a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that maintains the neighborhood.

"This isn't improvement for residents," explains the artisan. "It's a massive land development that will price people out for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists concern of the business conglomerate. Headed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

While administrative bodies describes it as a joint project, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. A case claiming that the project was improperly granted to the developer is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to actively protest the redevelopment, protesters and community members state they have been experienced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving phone calls, direct threats and implications that opposing the initiative was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by individuals they assert work for the developer.

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