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Across several weeks, threatening communications continued. Initially, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, and then from the authorities. Ultimately, one resident claims he was called to the police station and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is one of many fighting a expensive project where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces bulldozed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is unparalleled in the planet," says Shaikh. "Yet the plan aims to eradicate our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of this community stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and elite residences that overshadow the neighborhood. Homes are built haphazardly and often without proper sanitation, small-scale operations produce dangerous fumes and the environment is saturated with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, neat parks, contemporary malls and homes with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and we have no places for youth to recreate," explains A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who migrated from southern India in 1982. "The only way is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

However, some, such as the leather artisan, are fighting against the plan.

All recognize that the slum, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need investment and development. But they worry that this project – lacking public consultation – might transform premium city property into an elite enclave, forcing out the lower-caste, working-class residents who have been there since the late 1800s.

It was these excluded, relocated individuals who established the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and commercial output, whose economic value is estimated at between $1m and two million dollars per year, making it a major informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly a million inhabitants living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be able for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take seven years to finish. Others will be transferred to wastelands and saline fields on the remote edges of the metropolis, risking divide a generations-old neighborhood. Certain individuals will not get homes at all.

People eligible to stay in the area will be provided apartments in tower blocks, a significant rupture from the organic, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has sustained Dharavi for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and recycling are projected to shrink in number and be moved to a specific "industrial sector" distant from homes.

Survival Challenge

For those such as the leather artisan, a craftsman and third generation resident to call home Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, three-storey workshop creates apparel – formal jackets, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – distributed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives dwells in the rooms underneath and laborers and garment workers – workers from other states – also sleep there, enabling him to manage costs. Away from the slum, housing costs are typically tenfold costlier for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan shows a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed people move around on cycles and electric vehicles, purchasing western-style baguettes and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area near Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This depicts a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This is not improvement for us," explains Shaikh. "It's a massive real estate deal that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists concern of the development company. Headed by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Even as the state government calls it a partnership, the developer invested $950m for its majority share. A case alleging that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the development, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been experienced an extended period of harassment and intimidation – involving phone calls, explicit warnings and insinuations that criticizing the development was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they assert represent the business conglomerate.

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