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Over an extended period, intimidating messages persisted. Initially, reportedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, and then from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, one resident states he was ordered to the police station and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is part of a group resisting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and modernized by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the planet," explains Shaikh. "However the plan aims to dismantle our way of life and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that overshadow the neighborhood. Residences are built haphazardly and typically without proper sanitation, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the environment is saturated with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a developed area of luxury high-rises, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and homes with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, roads or sewage systems and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," explains a chai seller, 56, who moved from his home state in 1982. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

However, some, such as Shaikh, are fighting against the project.

None deny that this community, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing economic input and modernization. Yet they are concerned that this initiative – absent of resident participation – could potentially turn premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the lower-caste, migrant communities who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

These were these shunned, displaced people who established the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between one million dollars and two million dollars per year, making it a major unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Out of about one million residents living in the dense 220-hectare zone, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is projected to take seven years to accomplish. Others will be relocated to wastelands and saline fields on the remote edges of Mumbai, risking fragment a generations-old social network. Some will be denied residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in Dharavi will be allocated units in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the organic, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has maintained this area for many years.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are expected to shrink in number and be transferred to a specific "industrial sector" far from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of this protester, a craftsman and long-time resident to live in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His rickety, multi-level operation makes leather coats – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the accommodations underneath and laborers and garment workers – migrants from north India – reside there, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from this community, Mumbai rents are frequently significantly costlier for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

At the administrative buildings in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project depicts a very different outlook. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, buying continental baguettes and croissants and socializing on a patio adjacent to a coffee shop and dessert parlor. It is a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that supports Dharavi's community.

"This is not improvement for residents," states Shaikh. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the development company. Run by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the government head – the business group has encountered allegations of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

While the state government describes it as a collaborative effort, the developer paid nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. A case alleging that the project was unfairly awarded to the corporation is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to publicly resist the project, local opponents assert they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – including phone calls, direct threats and insinuations that opposing the project was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by people they allege are associated with the corporate group.

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