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For months, coercive phone calls continued. Initially, allegedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, and then from law enforcement directly. In the end, a local artisan claims he was called to the police station and warned explicitly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is part of a group resisting a multimillion-dollar project where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be razed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is unparalleled in the planet," explains Shaikh. "But the plan aims to destroy our way of life and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of this community sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that overshadow the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and often lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the air is filled with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.

"There's no sufficient health services, paved pathways or drainage and there are no spaces for children to play," states a chai seller, fifty-six, who moved from his home state in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

But others, including this protester, are fighting against the plan.

None deny that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as informal housing, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they fear that this plan – without public consultation – might transform premium city property into a playground for the rich, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have resided there since generations ago.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who established the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose production is worth between a significant amount and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly 1 million residents living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be qualified for new homes in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take a significant period to complete. The remainder will be moved to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the city, threatening to divide a generations-old community. Certain individuals will receive no homes at all.

Residents permitted to continue living in the area will be given apartments in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the organic, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and waste processing are projected to reduce in scale and be transferred to a designated "industrial sector" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of the leather artisan, a craftsman and multi-generational resident to call home the slum, the project presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor workshop creates garments – tailored coats, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – marketed in high-end shops in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

Relatives resides in the spaces underneath and laborers and tailors – workers from other states – live there, allowing him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, housing costs are frequently tenfold as high for a single room.

Threats and Warning

Within the administrative buildings in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project shows a very different vision for the future. Well-groomed inhabitants gather on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, acquiring western-style bread and pastries and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area outside Dharavi Cafe and dessert parlor. It is a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that maintains the neighborhood.

"This represents no improvement for our community," says the artisan. "It's an enormous property transaction that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists concern of the corporate group. Headed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the Indian prime minister – the corporation has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Even as local authorities describes it as a joint project, the developer contributed $950m for its controlling interest. A lawsuit alleging that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the developer is under review in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to actively protest the development, local opponents state they have been subjected to an extended period of harassment and intimidation – including communications, direct threats and suggestions that opposing the project was equivalent to speaking against the country – by figures they claim represent the corporate group.

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