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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls recurred. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, later from law enforcement directly. Finally, one resident asserts he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is part of a group resisting a expensive project where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be razed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is exceptional in the world," explains the resident. "However they want to destroy our community and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that loom over the area. Dwellings are constructed informally and often lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the environment is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

To some, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of premium apartments, neat parks, contemporary malls and homes with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or water management and there are no spaces for children to play," states a tea vendor, 56, who migrated from southern India in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

But others, like the leather artisan, are opposing the redevelopment.

All recognize that this community, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. But they worry that this initiative – absent of public consultation – could potentially turn valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, working-class residents who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who established the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and commercial output, whose output is valued at between one million dollars and $2m a year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about a million people living in the crowded sprawling area, fewer than half will be able for replacement housing in the project, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. Additional residents will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the distant periphery of Mumbai, potentially fragment a generations-old neighborhood. Some will receive no housing at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the area will be given flats in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the organic, communal way of residing and operating that has sustained Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to pottery and material recovery are likely to shrink in number and be moved to a specific "business area" far from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

In the case of Shaikh, a craftsman and multi-generational of his family to call home Dharavi, the redevelopment presents an existential threat. His informal, three-floor operation creates apparel – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – distributed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Household members lives in the accommodations below and laborers and tailors – laborers from north India – also sleep there, enabling him to afford their labour. Outside the slum, Mumbai rents are frequently 10 times costlier for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the government offices nearby, a visual representation of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting perspective. Slickly dressed people move around on cycles and electric vehicles, buying continental bread and croissants and enlisting beverages on a terrace outside a coffee shop and treat station. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that maintains local residents.

"This is not improvement for us," says the artisan. "It represents a massive land development that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists concern of the corporate group. Managed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the national leader – the business group has encountered allegations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

While administrative bodies calls it a collaborative effort, the developer contributed $950m for its 80% stake. A lawsuit stating that the project was unfairly awarded to the business group is pending in the top court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to actively protest the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents state they have been experienced an extended period of coercion and warning – involving messages, clear intimidation and suggestions that opposing the initiative was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by figures they assert represent the business conglomerate.

Among those alleged to have issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c