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For months, coercive messages persisted. Originally, supposedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, and then from the police themselves. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was ordered to the police station and instructed bluntly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is one of many fighting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces demolished and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is unparalleled in the globe," explains the resident. "But the plan aims to dismantle our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of this community present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and elite residences that overshadow the area. Dwellings are assembled randomly and often lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the air is permeated by the suffocating smell of open sewers.

For certain residents, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and homes with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future achieved.

"We don't have sufficient health services, roads or drainage and we have no places for children to play," states a tea vendor, 56, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The only way is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

However, some, including Shaikh, are opposing the project.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. But they are concerned that this plan – lacking resident participation – could potentially transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, displacing the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have resided there since generations ago.

This involved these shunned, relocated individuals who established the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose output is valued at between one million dollars and $2m per year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly one million inhabitants living in the dense 220-hectare area, a minority will be able for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is projected to take seven years to accomplish. Additional residents will be moved to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the distant periphery of the city, threatening to break up a generations-old community. A portion will not get residences at all.

Those allowed to remain in the neighborhood will be provided apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the organic, communal way of living and working that has sustained this area for many years.

Industries from clothing production to clay work and waste processing are expected to reduce in scale and be transferred to an allocated "business area" distant from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and multi-generational of his family to call home this community, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His informal, multi-level facility creates apparel – tailored coats, luxury coats, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in south Mumbai and internationally.

His family dwells in the spaces downstairs and laborers and sewers – laborers from north India – also sleep in the same building, permitting him to sustain operations. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are typically 10 times costlier for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

At the official facilities close by, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan shows an alternative outlook. Well-groomed people mill about on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, purchasing western-style baked goods and breakfast items and socializing on a patio outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This depicts a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that supports local residents.

"This represents no progress for residents," states the artisan. "It's a huge real estate deal that will price people out for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists concern of the corporate group. Run by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the national leader – the business group has faced accusations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

While administrative bodies labels it a collaborative effort, the developer contributed nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A case stating that the project was improperly granted to the developer is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, local opponents claim they have been experienced a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation – comprising communications, explicit warnings and implications that opposing the development was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by individuals they assert are associated with the business conglomerate.

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