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Over an extended period, intimidating messages persisted. Initially, reportedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, later from law enforcement directly. Finally, one resident states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is among those opposing a high-value redevelopment plan where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be razed and transformed by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is unparalleled in the planet," states Shaikh. "Yet the plan aims to eradicate our community and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of this community stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and elite residences that overshadow the neighborhood. Residences are constructed informally and often without proper sanitation, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the environment is filled with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and residences with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future achieved.

"There's no proper healthcare, paved pathways or water management and we have no places for youth to recreate," says a tea vendor, fifty-six, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The only way is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, including Shaikh, are fighting against the project.

All recognize that Dharavi, historically ignored as informal housing, is urgently needing investment and development. However they are concerned that this project – without community input – is one that will turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, forcing out the lower-caste, migrant communities who have been there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these marginalized, displaced people who established the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and commercial output, whose output is worth between $1m and $2m annually, making it a major informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately one million people living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer zone, fewer than half will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the development, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. Others will be moved to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the far outskirts of Mumbai, threatening to fragment a long-established community. Certain individuals will receive no residences at all.

Residents permitted to remain in the neighborhood will be given flats in multi-story structures, a substantial change from the natural, communal way of living and working that has sustained Dharavi for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and waste processing are projected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as this protester, a craftsman and multi-generational inhabitant to reside in this community, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His informal, multi-level operation produces leather coats – sharp blazers, luxury coats, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

His family lives in the rooms downstairs and his workers and garment workers – migrants from different regions – reside on-site, enabling him to manage costs. Outside the slum, Mumbai rents are typically 10 times as high for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

In the official facilities close by, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan illustrates a very different perspective. Well-groomed residents gather on cycles and eco-friendly transport, purchasing continental baked goods and pastries and enlisting beverages on a terrace outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This represents a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't improvement for our community," says Shaikh. "This constitutes a massive real estate deal that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's concern of the development company. Managed by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Although administrative bodies labels it a joint project, the corporation invested a significant amount for its majority share. Legal proceedings stating that the initiative was questionably assigned to the corporation is pending in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

Since they began to vocally oppose the redevelopment, local opponents state they have been experienced an extended period of pressure and threats – including communications, clear intimidation and suggestions that speaking against the initiative was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they claim work for the corporate group.

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