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Across several weeks, intimidating communications persisted. Originally, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, and then from law enforcement directly. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was called to the police station and instructed bluntly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is one of many resisting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be demolished and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is unparalleled in the planet," says the resident. "However their intention is to destroy our community and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of this community stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the area. Homes are assembled randomly and frequently missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is filled with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and residences with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision realized.

"There's no sufficient health services, roads or drainage and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," explains a tea vendor, in his fifties, who relocated from his home state in that period. "The sole solution is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, like the leather artisan, are resisting the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. Yet they are concerned that this initiative – absent of public consultation – is one that will transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the marginalized, immigrant populations who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these shunned, relocated individuals who built up the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose output is valued at between $1m and a substantial sum a year, making it a major informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about one million residents living in the packed sprawling zone, less than 50% will be able for replacement housing in the project, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to finish. Others will be transferred to wastelands and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the metropolis, risking divide a generations-old neighborhood. Certain individuals will not get homes at all.

Residents permitted to remain in Dharavi will be given units in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of living and working that has supported this area for generations.

Industries from clothing production to pottery and recycling are projected to reduce in scale and be moved to a specific "business area" distant from people's residences.

Existential Threat

In the case of the leather artisan, a craftsman and long-time of his family to call home the slum, the plan presents an existential threat. His makeshift, multi-level workshop creates apparel – tailored coats, suede trenches, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

His family dwells in the spaces underneath and laborers and garment workers – laborers from north India – also sleep there, permitting him to manage costs. Beyond this community, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times costlier for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

At the official facilities nearby, a visual representation of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed inhabitants mill about on cycles and eco-friendly transport, purchasing western-style baked goods and breakfast items and socializing on a terrace near a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This represents a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that maintains the neighborhood.

"This isn't improvement for our community," says the protester. "It's an enormous real estate deal that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's concern of the business conglomerate. Managed by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the government head – the corporation has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Even as the state government describes it as a collaborative effort, the corporation invested $950m for its majority share. A case alleging that the project was improperly granted to the corporation is being considered in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents state they have been subjected to an extended period of coercion and warning – including communications, explicit warnings and suggestions that criticizing the project was equivalent to speaking against the country – by individuals they allege are associated with the corporate group.

Among those accused of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c