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For months, threatening communications continued. At first, reportedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, subsequently from the police themselves. In the end, a local artisan claims he was called to the police station and told clearly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is part of a group fighting a high-value project where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be demolished and modernized by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of this area is like nowhere else in the world," explains the resident. "But their intention is to destroy our way of life and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of this community present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and elite residences that overshadow the area. Homes are built haphazardly and typically lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of luxury high-rises, neat parks, modern retail complexes and homes with two toilets is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We don't have proper healthcare, roads or drainage and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," says A Selvin Nadar, 56, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, such as the leather artisan, are fighting against the project.

None deny that the slum, long neglected as informal housing, is desperately requiring investment and development. Yet they worry that this project – absent of community input – is one that will convert valuable urban land into an elite enclave, evicting the marginalized, immigrant populations who have been there since the nineteenth century.

These were these excluded, relocated individuals who developed the empty marshland into a frequently examined example of community resilience and commercial output, whose economic value is valued at between one million dollars and two million dollars per year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million people living in the packed sprawling area, less than 50% will be eligible for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take seven years to accomplish. Additional residents will be transferred to barren areas and coastal regions on the far outskirts of Mumbai, threatening to fragment a generations-old neighborhood. Some will not get homes at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the area will be provided units in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the organic, collective approach of residing and operating that has sustained the community for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to clay work and waste processing are projected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to a designated "commercial zone" far from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of Shaikh, a craftsman and long-time resident to call home the slum, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey workshop creates leather coats – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in south Mumbai and overseas.

Household members lives in the spaces downstairs and his workers and sewers – migrants from different regions – reside in the same building, permitting him to manage costs. Outside Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are often tenfold costlier for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project illustrates a contrasting perspective. Well-groomed residents mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, buying continental bread and pastries and enlisting beverages on a terrace outside Dharavi Cafe and treat station. It is a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that maintains the neighborhood.

"This is not development for us," explains the artisan. "This constitutes a massive property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the corporate group. Headed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a supporter of the government head – the business group has faced accusations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it denies.

While administrative bodies describes it as a joint project, the business group paid $950m for its majority share. A case stating that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to publicly resist the project, protesters and community members claim they have been faced an extended period of coercion and warning – comprising communications, direct threats and implications that opposing the project was tantamount to opposing national interests – by people they assert represent the corporate group.

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