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Over an extended period, coercive messages persisted. At first, supposedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, subsequently from the police themselves. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was called to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is part of a group resisting a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – will be razed and modernized by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of the slum is unparalleled in the planet," states the resident. "However their intention is to destroy our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that dominate the area. Residences are assembled randomly and often without proper sanitation, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the environment is saturated with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of premium apartments, neat parks, contemporary malls and apartments with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future realized.

"There's no proper healthcare, paved pathways or sewage systems and we have no places for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, 56, who moved from his home state in the early eighties. "The single option is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

But others, including the leather artisan, are fighting against the redevelopment.

None deny that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need economic input and modernization. But they fear that this initiative – lacking resident participation – could potentially convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have lived there since generations ago.

This involved these excluded, migrant workers who established the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and commercial output, whose production is estimated at between $1m and a substantial sum a year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly one million people living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer zone, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Additional residents will be relocated to barren areas and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, potentially divide a generations-old community. Certain individuals will not get residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be provided units in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has sustained the community for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to ceramic crafts and recycling are projected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to an allocated "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.

Existential Threat

In the case of the leather artisan, a workshop owner and third generation inhabitant to call home Dharavi, the project presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor operation makes apparel – tailored coats, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives dwells in the spaces downstairs and laborers and sewers – laborers from north India – reside in the same building, permitting him to sustain operations. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are often tenfold more expensive for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan depicts a very different perspective. Slickly dressed residents move around on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring western-style baked goods and croissants and having coffee on an outdoor area outside a restaurant and dessert parlor. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that sustains the neighborhood.

"This is not progress for residents," explains the artisan. "It represents a massive real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the development company. Headed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a supporter of the government head – the corporation has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Although local authorities describes it as a joint project, the business group invested a significant amount for its majority share. A case alleging that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to publicly resist the development, protesters and community members claim they have been faced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – including communications, direct threats and insinuations that opposing the initiative was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by figures they claim represent the developer.

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