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Across several weeks, threatening communications recurred. Originally, allegedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, later from the authorities. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was ordered to the police station and instructed bluntly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is part of a group opposing a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces bulldozed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of the slum is exceptional in the world," says the resident. "But their intention is to eradicate our way of life and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that dominate the area. Residences are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the environment is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future achieved.

"We lack proper healthcare, proper streets or water management and there's nowhere for children to play," says A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who migrated from his home state in that period. "The only way is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

But others, including the leather artisan, are fighting against the project.

None deny that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. However they fear that this project – absent of public consultation – might turn valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, migrant communities who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these excluded, displaced people who built up the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and commercial output, whose economic value is estimated at between a significant amount and two million dollars a year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately a million people living in the crowded 220-hectare zone, less than 50% will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the project, which is projected to take seven years to complete. Others will be moved to barren areas and saline fields on the distant periphery of the metropolis, threatening to fragment a generations-old social network. Certain individuals will not get homes at all.

Residents permitted to continue living in the area will be allocated flats in multi-story structures, a major break from the evolved, shared lifestyle of living and working that has sustained this area for many years.

Commercial activities from clothing production to clay work and waste processing are likely to shrink in number and be transferred to a specific "industrial sector" distant from homes.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and third generation of his family to reside in the slum, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, multi-level facility makes apparel – tailored coats, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and abroad.

His family dwells in the accommodations underneath and employees and sewers – migrants from different regions – live there, allowing him to manage costs. Outside Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are typically significantly as high for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

At the administrative buildings close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project illustrates a very different outlook. Slickly dressed people gather on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, buying western-style baked goods and pastries and enlisting beverages on a patio near a restaurant and treat station. This depicts a complete departure from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

"This represents no progress for residents," says the artisan. "This constitutes a huge real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the business conglomerate. Headed by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Even as administrative bodies labels it a joint project, the business group contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. A case alleging that the project was unfairly awarded to the developer is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the project, Shaikh and other residents state they have been subjected to an extended period of harassment and intimidation – comprising messages, explicit warnings and implications that speaking against the development was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by people they assert 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