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Over an extended period, threatening messages recurred. At first, allegedly from a retired cop and a former defense officer, later from the police themselves. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was summoned to the local precinct and warned explicitly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is part of a group fighting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – faces bulldozed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of this area is unparalleled in the globe," explains the protester. "However their intention is to eradicate our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of this community stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the area. Residences are assembled randomly and typically lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the air is permeated by the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, neat parks, contemporary malls and apartments with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream realized.

"We don't have sufficient health services, paved pathways or sewage systems and we have no places for youth to recreate," states a tea vendor, 56, who relocated from his home state in 1982. "The only way is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

But others, like Shaikh, are fighting against the project.

All recognize that Dharavi, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need investment and development. But they worry that this project – lacking community input – is one that will convert valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, evicting the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have lived there since the late 1800s.

It was these shunned, relocated individuals who established the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between $1m and a substantial sum a year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly one million people living in the packed 220-hectare area, less than 50% will be eligible for replacement housing in the project, which is projected to take seven years to accomplish. Others will be relocated to wastelands and salt plains on the far outskirts of Mumbai, threatening to fragment a historic neighborhood. Certain individuals will receive no homes at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the neighborhood will be given apartments in tower blocks, a major break from the evolved, communal way of residing and operating that has supported this area for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and recycling are projected to decrease in quantity and be moved to an allocated "business area" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and long-time resident to live in Dharavi, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His informal, three-storey workshop makes leather coats – sharp blazers, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

His family dwells in the spaces underneath and his workers and tailors – workers from other states – reside on-site, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are frequently significantly more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the administrative buildings in the vicinity, a visual representation of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed residents gather on cycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring continental baked goods and pastries and having coffee on a patio adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This depicts a world away from the affordable idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that supports the neighborhood.

"This isn't improvement for us," states the artisan. "This constitutes an enormous property transaction that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

There is also concern of the corporate group. Managed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a close ally of the government head – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Even as administrative bodies calls it a joint project, the business group paid nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings claiming that the initiative was questionably assigned to the business group is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to publicly resist the development, local opponents assert they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising communications, clear intimidation and insinuations that opposing the development was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by people they claim represent the corporate group.

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