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Over an extended period, threatening messages persisted. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, and then from the authorities. Finally, a local artisan claims he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is part of a group opposing a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces demolished and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is exceptional in the planet," says the protester. "However the plan aims to dismantle our community and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of the slum sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that loom over the area. Residences are constructed informally and frequently lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is filled with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and residences with two toilets is an aspirational dream achieved.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or water management and we have no places for children to play," explains A Selvin Nadar, 56, who moved from southern India in that period. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

However, some, like the leather artisan, are opposing the project.

None deny that Dharavi, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring investment and development. Yet they fear that this project – without resident participation – might convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, forcing out the lower-caste, migrant communities who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who developed the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and commercial output, whose economic value is valued at between $1m and $2m a year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly a million inhabitants living in the dense sprawling neighborhood, fewer than half will be able for new homes in the project, which is estimated to take a significant period to finish. Additional residents will be relocated to wastelands and coastal regions on the far outskirts of the metropolis, risking fragment a generations-old community. Some will not get residences at all.

Those allowed to remain in Dharavi will be provided flats in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of living and working that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from clothing production to pottery and waste processing are likely to decrease in quantity and be relocated to a designated "industrial sector" separated from homes.

Survival Challenge

For residents like Shaikh, a leather artisan and long-time of his family to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey facility makes apparel – tailored coats, suede trenches, decorated jackets – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Relatives lives in the spaces underneath and his workers and garment workers – workers from different regions – live in the same building, allowing him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, accommodation prices are typically 10 times more expensive for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the official facilities nearby, a visual representation of the Dharavi project depicts a very different vision for the future. Fashionable inhabitants move around on bicycles and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style bread and croissants and having coffee on a patio adjacent to a coffee shop and treat station. This represents a world away from the affordable idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that supports the neighborhood.

"This is not development for us," says the artisan. "It's a huge land development that will price people out for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the corporate group. Run by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the national leader – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Even as the state government calls it a collaborative effort, the corporation invested a significant amount for its 80% stake. A case alleging that the initiative was improperly granted to the developer is under review in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the development, local opponents claim they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – comprising phone calls, direct threats and insinuations that criticizing the project was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they assert represent the developer.

Part of the group accused of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c