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Across several weeks, threatening messages recurred. Originally, supposedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, and then from the police themselves. In the end, one resident states he was called to the local precinct and told clearly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is among those fighting a high-value project where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – faces bulldozed and modernized by a large business group.

"The culture of the slum is like nowhere else in the globe," states the protester. "Yet the plan aims to eradicate our community and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of this community sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the settlement. Homes are assembled randomly and frequently missing basic amenities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the environment is saturated with the overpowering odor of exposed drainage.

To some, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and residences with two toilets is an aspirational dream come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," says A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

Yet certain residents, including the leather artisan, are opposing the project.

All recognize that the slum, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing investment and development. But they are concerned that this initiative – absent of public consultation – might convert premium city property into a luxury development, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have been there since generations ago.

It was these shunned, displaced people who established the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and business activity, whose output is valued at between a significant amount and $2m per year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Among approximately 1 million residents living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, fewer than half will be qualified for new homes in the redevelopment, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to complete. The remainder will be transferred to wastelands and salt plains on the distant periphery of the metropolis, potentially break up a long-established neighborhood. Certain individuals will receive no residences at all.

People eligible to continue living in the area will be given apartments in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the natural, collective approach of dwelling and laboring that has supported this area for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to pottery and material recovery are expected to reduce in scale and be relocated to a specific "commercial zone" separated from residential areas.

Existential Threat

In the case of this protester, a leather artisan and third generation inhabitant to live in Dharavi, the project presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-storey workshop creates apparel – formal jackets, suede trenches, decorated jackets – distributed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

His family lives in the accommodations underneath and laborers and tailors – workers from different regions – also sleep in the same building, allowing him to manage costs. Away from the slum, housing costs are often significantly more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

In the administrative buildings nearby, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan depicts a contrasting outlook. Fashionable inhabitants mill about on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, acquiring continental bread and breakfast items and having coffee on an outdoor area outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This represents a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that supports the neighborhood.

"This represents no development for our community," states Shaikh. "It's an enormous real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the development company. Headed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a close ally of the government head – the corporation has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

While the state government calls it a partnership, the developer contributed $950m for its majority share. A case claiming that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the developer is being considered in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the project, local opponents claim they have been subjected to an extended period of coercion and warning – comprising messages, direct threats and insinuations that criticizing the initiative was tantamount to opposing national interests – by figures they assert are associated with the business conglomerate.

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