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For months, coercive messages recurred. Originally, allegedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, and then from the authorities. In the end, a local artisan claims he was ordered to the local precinct and warned explicitly: keep quiet or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is part of a group resisting a high-value redevelopment plan 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 unique ecosystem of the slum is exceptional in the world," states the resident. "However they want to dismantle our way of life and silence our voices."

Contrasting Realities

The narrow alleys of this community sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and luxury apartments that loom over the area. Dwellings are built haphazardly and typically lacking adequate facilities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the air is filled with the suffocating smell of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and homes with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision realized.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and there are no spaces for children to play," says A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who moved from southern India in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, such as the leather artisan, are fighting against the redevelopment.

All recognize that this community, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need financial support and improvement. But they are concerned that this project – without resident participation – is one that will turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a luxury development, forcing out the disadvantaged, working-class residents who have been there since the late 1800s.

These were these shunned, relocated individuals 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 among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly 1 million people living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer area, a minority will be qualified for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is projected to take a significant period to finish. Additional residents will be moved to wastelands and saline fields on the remote edges of the city, threatening to divide a historic community. Certain individuals will receive no homes at all.

Those allowed to stay in the area will be allocated flats in tower blocks, a substantial change from the natural, communal way of residing and operating that has maintained Dharavi for generations.

Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and recycling are likely to reduce in scale and be moved to an allocated "commercial zone" separated from homes.

Survival Challenge

In the case of Shaikh, a workshop owner and multi-generational resident to call home this community, the plan presents a fundamental risk. His informal, three-storey workshop makes leather coats – sharp blazers, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and abroad.

His family resides in the accommodations below and laborers and garment workers – workers from other states – live on-site, permitting him to manage costs. Outside Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are often tenfold costlier for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

In the government offices in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan shows a contrasting outlook. Slickly dressed inhabitants mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, acquiring continental baked goods and croissants and socializing on a patio outside a restaurant and treat station. It is a world away from the affordable idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that maintains the neighborhood.

"This is not progress for us," explains the protester. "It's an enormous property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the business conglomerate. Managed by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the government head – the corporation has been subject to claims of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Even as administrative bodies labels it a collaborative effort, the business group contributed a significant amount for its majority share. A lawsuit stating that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the corporation is being considered in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

From when they initiated to actively protest the project, protesters and community members assert they have been experienced ongoing efforts of coercion and warning – including messages, explicit warnings and insinuations that criticizing the project was tantamount to opposing national interests – by people they claim work for the developer.

Part of the group alleged to have delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c