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For months, intimidating communications persisted. Initially, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, and then from the authorities. Finally, a local artisan asserts he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

This third-generation resident is among those resisting a expensive initiative where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be demolished and redeveloped by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of this area is unparalleled in the world," states the protester. "But their intention is to dismantle our way of life and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of the slum present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the neighborhood. Dwellings are built haphazardly and often lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the environment is filled with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the prospect of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of luxury high-rises, neat parks, modern retail complexes and apartments with two toilets is a hopeful vision achieved.

"There's no sufficient health services, paved pathways or water management and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states a chai seller, 56, who moved from his home state in 1982. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Local Protest

However, some, like the leather artisan, are opposing the plan.

None deny that this community, historically ignored as informal housing, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. However they fear that this project – absent of public consultation – might convert valuable urban land into a luxury development, forcing out the lower-caste, migrant communities who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these shunned, migrant workers who developed the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and commercial output, whose economic value is valued at between $1m and $2m per year, making it a major informal economies.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about a million residents living in the dense sprawling zone, less than 50% will be eligible for new homes in the development, which is projected to take an extended timeframe to finish. Others will be transferred to barren areas and salt plains on the distant periphery of Mumbai, potentially break up a generations-old community. A portion will be denied residences at all.

People eligible to remain in the area will be provided apartments in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the organic, collective approach of residing and operating that has sustained this area for generations.

Industries from garment work to clay work and waste processing are expected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to an allocated "commercial zone" distant from residential areas.

Existential Threat

In the case of this protester, a craftsman and long-time inhabitant to reside in the slum, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-floor workshop produces apparel – sharp blazers, suede trenches, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in the city's affluent areas and overseas.

Relatives dwells in the rooms underneath and employees and sewers – laborers from different regions – also sleep in the same building, permitting him to afford their labour. Beyond this community, Mumbai rents are typically tenfold costlier for basic accommodation.

Threats and Warning

At the government offices nearby, a visual representation of the transformation initiative illustrates an alternative perspective. Well-groomed inhabitants mill about on bicycles and eco-friendly transport, acquiring continental bread and breakfast items and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area adjacent to a coffee shop and treat station. This represents a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that maintains local residents.

"This isn't development for residents," says the artisan. "It's a huge property transaction that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the development company. Headed by a prominent businessman – a leading figure and an associate of the national leader – the corporation has been subject to claims of favoritism and financial impropriety, which it denies.

While administrative bodies calls it a joint project, the developer invested $950m for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings stating that the project was improperly granted to the business group is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to vocally oppose the development, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving messages, clear intimidation and suggestions that criticizing the project was equivalent to opposing national interests – by people they allege work for the business conglomerate.

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