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For months, coercive communications continued. At first, supposedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, later from the police themselves. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is among those opposing a multimillion-dollar initiative where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be demolished and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of the slum is like nowhere else in the globe," explains Shaikh. "But they want to dismantle our community and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that overshadow the settlement. Dwellings are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the environment is saturated with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

To some, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and apartments with two toilets is an optimistic future achieved.

"We don't have sufficient health services, roads or water management and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," states a chai seller, in his fifties, who migrated from southern India in that period. "The only way is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Local Protest

But others, like the leather artisan, are opposing the project.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is in stark need investment and development. Yet they are concerned that this initiative – without public consultation – is one that will convert valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, displacing the marginalized, migrant communities who have lived there since the late 1800s.

It was these shunned, relocated individuals who established the vacant wetlands into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and business activity, whose output is valued at between one million dollars and two million dollars a year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately 1 million inhabitants living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer neighborhood, a minority will be able for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take seven years to accomplish. The remainder will be transferred to wastelands and saline fields on the remote edges of the metropolis, threatening to fragment a long-established social network. A portion will not get residences at all.

People eligible to stay in Dharavi will be provided flats in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the evolved, collective approach of residing and operating that has maintained this area for so long.

Commercial activities from clothing production to clay work and recycling are projected to shrink in number and be moved to an allocated "commercial zone" separated from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as this protester, a craftsman and long-time inhabitant to call home the slum, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, multi-level workshop produces apparel – tailored coats, luxury coats, decorated jackets – distributed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and overseas.

Relatives dwells in the spaces downstairs and employees and tailors – laborers from other states – reside there, permitting him to manage costs. Beyond this community, housing costs are typically significantly costlier for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the government offices nearby, a conceptual model of the transformation initiative depicts a contrasting vision for the future. Slickly dressed people gather on bicycles and e-vehicles, purchasing continental baguettes and pastries and socializing on an outdoor area outside a coffee shop and treat station. It is a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that supports local residents.

"This is not progress for our community," says the protester. "It represents a huge real estate deal that will render it impossible for our community to continue."

There is also skepticism of the corporate group. Headed by an influential industrialist – a leading figure and a close ally of the national leader – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Even as the state government calls it a partnership, the developer invested a significant amount for its majority share. Legal proceedings claiming that the initiative was improperly granted to the developer is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to actively protest the development, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been subjected to an extended period of harassment and intimidation – comprising phone calls, clear intimidation and insinuations that opposing the development was comparable with opposing national interests – by people they claim work for the corporate group.

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