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Across several weeks, coercive communications continued. At first, supposedly from a former police officer and a retired army general, and then from the police themselves. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is part of a group fighting a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be razed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of Dharavi is unparalleled in the planet," says Shaikh. "Yet they want to destroy our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that dominate the settlement. Dwellings are constructed informally and typically lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the environment is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

For certain residents, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, neat parks, contemporary malls and homes with two toilets is a hopeful vision come true.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, roads or water management and we have no places for children to play," states a chai seller, fifty-six, who moved from southern India in that period. "The sole solution is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, like this protester, are fighting against the project.

All recognize that the slum, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. But they fear that this project – lacking resident participation – is one that will convert premium city property into a luxury development, displacing the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have lived there since the late 1800s.

This involved these shunned, relocated individuals who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between $1m and a substantial sum a year, making it a major unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately one million people living in the packed sprawling neighborhood, fewer than half will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is estimated to take seven years to finish. Others will be moved to barren areas and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the metropolis, threatening to break up a long-established social network. Certain individuals will receive no homes at all.

Residents permitted to continue living in the neighborhood will be provided flats in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the natural, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has maintained this area for so long.

Businesses from garment work to pottery and material recovery are expected to shrink in number and be transferred to an allocated "industrial sector" distant from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and third generation resident to reside in the slum, the plan presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor workshop produces garments – tailored coats, suede trenches, fashionable garments – sold in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and abroad.

Relatives resides in the spaces downstairs and employees and tailors – workers from north India – reside there, enabling him to sustain operations. Outside this community, Mumbai rents are often significantly more expensive for minimal space.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the official facilities nearby, a visual representation of the Dharavi project shows a contrasting vision for the future. Well-groomed residents mill about on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, buying international bread and pastries and socializing on a terrace adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that supports local residents.

"This isn't progress for residents," states Shaikh. "It represents a huge real estate deal that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's concern of the development company. Managed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the government head – the business group has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it denies.

Even as administrative bodies describes it as a collaborative effort, the developer contributed a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings claiming that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the developer is pending in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to actively protest the project, protesters and community members claim they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of coercion and warning – including phone calls, direct threats and suggestions that opposing the development was comparable with speaking against the country – by people 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