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Over an extended period, coercive communications recurred. Initially, allegedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is among those opposing a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be razed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the world," states the protester. "However they want to destroy our community and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that dominate the area. Homes are constructed informally and typically lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the air is filled with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

Among some individuals, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and apartments with two toilets is an optimistic future realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or sewage systems and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," explains a chai seller, in his fifties, who migrated from southern India in 1982. "The only way is to demolish everything and build us new homes."

Local Protest

However, some, like Shaikh, are resisting the redevelopment.

All recognize that this community, historically ignored as informal housing, is urgently needing economic input and modernization. However they worry that this project – absent of community input – might transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have lived there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, displaced people who built up the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and business activity, whose output is valued at between $1m and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly a million residents living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer zone, a minority will be able for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to finish. The remainder will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the remote edges of the metropolis, threatening to fragment a historic neighborhood. Some will not get residences at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the neighborhood will be allocated flats in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the organic, shared lifestyle of living and working that has supported Dharavi for generations.

Commercial activities from garment work to pottery and recycling are expected to reduce in scale and be relocated to a specific "commercial zone" distant from people's residences.

Existential Threat

For those such as Shaikh, a leather artisan and third generation resident to reside in this community, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level facility produces garments – formal jackets, luxury coats, decorated jackets – marketed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Household members dwells in the rooms downstairs and employees and sewers – workers from north India – also sleep there, enabling him to manage costs. Away from the slum, Mumbai rents are frequently significantly costlier for a single room.

Threats and Warning

Within the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan depicts an alternative perspective. Well-groomed people mill about on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, purchasing western-style baked goods and breakfast items and socializing on a terrace outside a coffee shop and treat station. This depicts a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This is not development for residents," states the artisan. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will price people out for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the development company. Headed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

While the state government labels it a collaborative effort, the developer paid nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. A lawsuit claiming that the redevelopment was questionably assigned to the developer is under review in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to actively protest the development, Shaikh and other residents state they have been experienced an extended period of pressure and threats – including messages, clear intimidation and suggestions that speaking against the development was comparable with opposing national interests – by individuals they assert work for the developer.

Among those accused of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c