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Across several weeks, coercive phone calls continued. Initially, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, and then from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh claims he was ordered to the local precinct and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

Shaikh is among those opposing a expensive project where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be razed and transformed by a large business group.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is unparalleled in the globe," says the protester. "However the plan aims to destroy our way of life and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of this community sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and elite residences that loom over the area. Homes are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the environment is filled with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and homes with two toilets is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack proper healthcare, roads or sewage systems and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," says a chai seller, in his fifties, who moved from southern India in 1982. "The sole solution is to demolish everything and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

But others, such as the leather artisan, are fighting against the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing investment and development. However they fear that this plan – lacking resident participation – is one that will convert valuable urban land into an elite enclave, displacing the lower-caste, working-class residents who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

It was these marginalized, displaced people who established the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and commercial output, whose economic value is estimated at between a significant amount and $2m annually, making it one of the world's largest unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately a million residents living in the dense sprawling neighborhood, less than 50% will be able for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take a significant period to complete. Others will be moved to wastelands and saline fields on the remote edges of the metropolis, threatening to divide a historic neighborhood. Some will receive no homes at all.

Those allowed to remain in the neighborhood will be given flats in tower blocks, a substantial change from the organic, communal way of living and working that has maintained this area for so long.

Commercial activities from clothing production to clay work and material recovery are expected to reduce in scale and be transferred to an allocated "business area" distant from residential areas.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as Shaikh, a craftsman and multi-generational of his family to call home the slum, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level workshop creates garments – tailored coats, suede trenches, fashionable garments – marketed in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Household members dwells in the rooms downstairs and employees and sewers – laborers from other states – reside there, allowing him to manage costs. Outside the slum, housing costs are frequently 10 times costlier for a single room.

Threats and Warning

At the government offices in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan illustrates a contrasting vision for the future. Slickly dressed inhabitants gather on bicycles and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style bread and pastries and having coffee on a patio near Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. It is a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and low-cost tea that supports local residents.

"This represents no progress for us," says the protester. "This constitutes a huge property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the corporate group. Run by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the government head – the business group has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Even as local authorities labels it a joint project, the corporation contributed nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit claiming that the project was improperly granted to the corporation is being considered in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to publicly resist the redevelopment, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – involving communications, clear intimidation and insinuations that criticizing the development was comparable with opposing national interests – by people they claim represent the business conglomerate.

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