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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls persisted. Initially, allegedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was called to the police station and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is one of many opposing a expensive redevelopment plan where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces demolished and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of the slum is like nowhere else in the globe," explains Shaikh. "However the plan aims to destroy our social fabric and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that loom over the area. Dwellings are assembled randomly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the environment is saturated with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

Among some individuals, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and homes with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream achieved.

"There's no proper healthcare, roads or water management and there are no spaces for children to play," states a chai seller, in his fifties, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The only way is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

However, some, like the leather artisan, are opposing the redevelopment.

All recognize that this community, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. Yet they worry that this initiative – absent of public consultation – could potentially transform valuable urban land into an elite enclave, forcing out the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have resided there since the late 1800s.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and commercial output, whose output is valued at between a significant amount and two million dollars per year, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about one million residents living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer zone, fewer than half will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the project, which is expected to take seven years to finish. The remainder will be transferred to wastelands and coastal regions on the remote edges of the city, potentially break up a long-established community. Some will be denied housing at all.

Those allowed to remain in Dharavi will be allocated units in tower blocks, a substantial change from the evolved, communal way of residing and operating that has supported the community for many years.

Industries from clothing production to clay work and material recovery are likely to decrease in quantity and be moved to a designated "industrial sector" distant from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

In the case of the leather artisan, a craftsman and third generation inhabitant to reside in this community, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-storey workshop creates apparel – tailored coats, luxury coats, fashionable garments – distributed in premium stores in south Mumbai and overseas.

Relatives lives in the rooms downstairs and his workers and sewers – workers from north India – reside there, allowing him to manage costs. Outside the slum, accommodation prices are typically significantly more expensive for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities close by, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project depicts a very different vision for the future. Slickly dressed inhabitants gather on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, buying continental bread and breakfast items and having coffee on a patio near Dharavi Cafe and dessert parlor. This represents a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains the neighborhood.

"This isn't development for us," says the artisan. "It represents a massive land development that will render it impossible for us to survive."

There is also distrust of the development company. Managed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the national leader – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Even as administrative bodies labels it a joint project, the developer contributed nearly a billion dollars for its 80% stake. A case claiming that the project was improperly granted to the business group is under review in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to actively protest the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, explicit warnings and insinuations that speaking against the initiative was comparable with speaking against the country – by people they claim represent the business conglomerate.

Included in these accused of making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c