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For months, intimidating communications continued. At first, allegedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, later from the authorities. Ultimately, a local artisan claims he was called to the police station and warned explicitly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is one of many opposing a expensive project where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be bulldozed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is unparalleled in the planet," explains the protester. "However they want to dismantle our community and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of the slum sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the neighborhood. Dwellings are assembled randomly and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, neat parks, modern retail complexes and homes with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.

"We lack proper healthcare, proper streets or water management and there's nowhere for children to play," states A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The only way is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, such as the leather artisan, are resisting the redevelopment.

All recognize that this community, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is in stark need investment and development. But they fear that this project – lacking public consultation – could potentially convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, displacing the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have been there since the nineteenth century.

It was these shunned, displaced people who developed the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and business activity, whose production is worth between a significant amount and $2m a year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly a million people living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is expected to take a significant period to accomplish. Others will be transferred to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the far outskirts of the metropolis, risking break up a generations-old social network. Certain individuals will not get homes at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be provided flats in high-rise buildings, a major break from the organic, communal way of living and working that has sustained this area for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are expected to reduce in scale and be transferred to a specific "commercial zone" separated from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as the leather artisan, a craftsman and long-time of his family to call home Dharavi, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, multi-level operation produces leather coats – tailored coats, luxury coats, decorated jackets – distributed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and overseas.

Relatives resides in the spaces underneath and employees and sewers – workers from other states – live on-site, permitting him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, Mumbai rents are often tenfold costlier for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

In the government offices in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project shows a very different outlook. Slickly dressed inhabitants mill about on cycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring western-style baguettes and breakfast items and socializing on a terrace adjacent to a restaurant and treat station. It is a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't development for our community," states the artisan. "It represents a massive land development that will price people out for residents to remain."

There is also concern of the business conglomerate. Run by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and a supporter of the national leader – the corporation has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Although local authorities describes it as a collaborative effort, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings stating that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is pending in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to actively protest the development, local opponents assert they have been experienced ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – comprising messages, explicit warnings and implications that opposing the development was equivalent to opposing national interests – by people they allege represent the business conglomerate.

Part of the group suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c