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Over an extended period, coercive phone calls recurred. At first, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, one resident states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is part of a group opposing a high-value project where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – is scheduled to be bulldozed and transformed by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of the slum is exceptional in the globe," states the protester. "But the plan aims to destroy our community and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The dank gullies of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is saturated with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

To some, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision achieved.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, roads or drainage and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," states A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to clear the area and build us new homes."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, like the leather artisan, are resisting the plan.

All recognize that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. However they worry that this plan – without public consultation – could potentially transform a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have lived there since generations ago.

This involved these shunned, relocated individuals who established the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between one million dollars and two million dollars a year, making it a major unofficial markets.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about a million people living in the dense 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be able for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to finish. The remainder will be moved to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the remote edges of the city, potentially divide a generations-old community. Some will be denied residences at all.

Those allowed to stay in the area will be given apartments in high-rise buildings, a major break from the organic, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has maintained Dharavi for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to clay work and recycling are projected to reduce in scale and be transferred to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a workshop owner and long-time of his family to reside in the slum, the project presents a survival challenge. His rickety, multi-level workshop creates garments – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – marketed in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and overseas.

His family dwells in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and sewers – laborers from different regions – reside on-site, allowing him to manage costs. Away from this community, Mumbai rents are often tenfold as high for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the administrative buildings close by, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan shows a contrasting outlook. Slickly dressed inhabitants mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, purchasing continental baguettes and croissants and having coffee on a terrace adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. It is a world away from the affordable idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that supports the neighborhood.

"This is not progress for residents," says the protester. "This constitutes an enormous land development that will price people out for our community to continue."

There is also concern of the business conglomerate. Run by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a close ally of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

While local authorities labels it a partnership, the developer paid a significant amount for its 80% stake. A case claiming that the initiative was questionably assigned to the corporation is being considered in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to actively protest the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been experienced ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – involving messages, direct threats and suggestions that criticizing the project was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they allege represent the developer.

Among those accused of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c