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Across several weeks, coercive phone calls continued. Initially, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, subsequently from the police themselves. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was summoned to the local precinct and told clearly: remain silent or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is one of many resisting a multimillion-dollar initiative where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be razed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is unparalleled in the globe," explains the protester. "However they want to destroy our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of the slum present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and elite residences that dominate the settlement. Residences are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and residences with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision come true.

"We lack proper healthcare, roads or sewage systems and we have no places for youth to recreate," says a tea vendor, in his fifties, who moved from Tamil Nadu in that period. "The only way is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

But others, like Shaikh, are resisting the redevelopment.

None deny that this community, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need economic input and modernization. However they fear that this initiative – absent of public consultation – could potentially turn valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, forcing out the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have been there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these excluded, migrant workers who established the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and commercial output, whose output is worth between $1m and $2m per year, making it a major informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately one million inhabitants living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, a minority will be able for replacement housing in the project, which is expected to take a significant period to finish. Additional residents will be transferred to barren areas and salt plains on the remote edges of the city, threatening to divide a historic social network. Certain individuals will receive no homes at all.

People eligible to continue living in the area will be given apartments in tower blocks, a substantial change from the natural, collective approach of residing and operating that has supported the community for many years.

Commercial activities from clothing production to clay work and waste processing are expected to shrink in number and be relocated to an allocated "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as Shaikh, a leather artisan and multi-generational inhabitant to call home Dharavi, the project presents an existential threat. His rickety, multi-level facility creates garments – sharp blazers, suede trenches, decorated jackets – sold in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

His family dwells in the accommodations underneath and his workers and sewers – migrants from other states – also sleep in the same building, enabling him to manage costs. Away from the slum, accommodation prices are typically 10 times costlier for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

At the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project illustrates an alternative vision for the future. Slickly dressed residents gather on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, buying international bread and pastries and enlisting beverages on a patio adjacent to a restaurant and treat station. This represents a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that sustains the neighborhood.

"This is not progress for us," says Shaikh. "It's a massive land development that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

There is also skepticism of the business conglomerate. Managed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the national leader – the corporation has faced accusations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

Even as the state government calls it a collaborative effort, the corporation invested $950m for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings alleging that the project was unfairly awarded to the business group is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to actively protest the redevelopment, protesters and community members assert they have been faced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and suggestions that speaking against the development was comparable with opposing national interests – by individuals they assert work for the corporate group.

Included in these alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c