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Across several weeks, coercive communications persisted. Originally, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, and then from the police themselves. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was called to the police station and told clearly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is part of a group fighting a multimillion-dollar project where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be razed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of the slum is exceptional in the planet," explains the protester. "However their intention is to destroy our community and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and elite residences that loom over the area. Homes are assembled randomly and typically missing basic amenities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is permeated by the suffocating smell of uncovered waste channels.

Among some individuals, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and homes with proper sanitation is an optimistic future realized.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, roads or water management and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," states a chai seller, 56, who relocated from southern India in that period. "The only way is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, including Shaikh, are opposing the project.

None deny that the slum, historically ignored as informal housing, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. However they are concerned that this plan – absent of community input – might convert premium city property into a playground for the rich, evicting the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have resided there since the late 1800s.

This involved these excluded, migrant workers who established the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and business activity, whose economic value is valued at between $1m and two million dollars annually, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly one million residents living in the packed 220-hectare neighborhood, a minority will be qualified for replacement housing in the development, which is estimated to take seven years to complete. Others will be transferred to barren areas and coastal regions on the remote edges of Mumbai, risking fragment a historic neighborhood. Some will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in Dharavi will be given apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the organic, collective approach of residing and operating that has maintained this area for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to clay work and material recovery are projected to shrink in number and be relocated to an allocated "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

In the case of the leather artisan, a craftsman and long-time inhabitant to call home Dharavi, the plan presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, multi-level workshop creates leather coats – tailored coats, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the rooms underneath and employees and sewers – laborers from different regions – also sleep on-site, allowing him to manage costs. Beyond this community, Mumbai rents are typically significantly as high for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

In the administrative buildings close by, a visual representation of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting vision for the future. Well-groomed residents gather on cycles and e-vehicles, buying international baked goods and pastries and socializing on a terrace adjacent to a restaurant and dessert parlor. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that sustains local residents.

"This is not development for us," states the artisan. "It represents a huge real estate deal that will price people out for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the business conglomerate. Run by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

While local authorities labels it a collaborative effort, the business group contributed $950m for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings claiming that the project was improperly granted to the corporation is under review in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to vocally oppose the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been faced ongoing efforts of coercion and warning – involving communications, clear intimidation and implications that speaking against the project was tantamount to speaking against the country – by individuals they claim are associated with the developer.

Among those alleged to have making intimidations is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c