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For months, intimidating communications recurred. Initially, supposedly from a retired cop and a former defense officer, and then from the police themselves. In the end, a local artisan asserts he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is among those fighting a high-value initiative where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be demolished and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is like nowhere else in the planet," says Shaikh. "However their intention is to dismantle our community and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of the slum present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that dominate the area. Homes are assembled randomly and frequently without proper sanitation, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is permeated by the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of premium apartments, neat parks, contemporary malls and residences with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision achieved.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or sewage systems and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," explains a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

However, some, including this protester, are resisting the redevelopment.

None deny that the slum, historically ignored as informal housing, is in stark need economic input and modernization. However they fear that this plan – absent of public consultation – could potentially transform premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the marginalized, working-class residents who have been there since generations ago.

It was these excluded, migrant workers who built up the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and commercial output, whose economic value is valued at between a significant amount and a substantial sum annually, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately 1 million inhabitants living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, fewer than half will be eligible for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is expected to take a significant period to complete. The remainder will be relocated to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the far outskirts of Mumbai, threatening to divide a historic neighborhood. Some will receive no residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in Dharavi will be given units in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has sustained Dharavi for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to ceramic crafts and material recovery are projected to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "business area" far from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

In the case of the leather artisan, a craftsman and third generation inhabitant to live in the slum, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His makeshift, three-floor operation makes garments – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – sold in premium stores in south Mumbai and overseas.

His family lives in the spaces below and his workers and sewers – laborers from other states – reside on-site, permitting him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, Mumbai rents are typically 10 times as high for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

At the administrative buildings nearby, a visual representation of the Dharavi project illustrates a contrasting perspective. Fashionable inhabitants mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, buying continental baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on a patio outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. It is a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that sustains local residents.

"This isn't development for residents," explains Shaikh. "It's an enormous property transaction that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

There is also concern of the corporate group. Run by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a close ally of the government head – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it denies.

Even as local authorities calls it a joint project, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. A case alleging that the initiative was questionably assigned to the developer is pending in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to actively protest the redevelopment, protesters and community members assert they have been subjected to an extended period of coercion and warning – comprising communications, clear intimidation and implications that speaking against the initiative was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by individuals 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