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Across several weeks, coercive communications continued. Initially, reportedly from a former police officer and a former defense officer, later from the authorities. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was called to the local precinct and told clearly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

The leather artisan is one of many resisting a high-value initiative where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be demolished and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The culture of the slum is exceptional in the world," states Shaikh. "But the plan aims to dismantle our way of life and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of this community present a dramatic difference to the high-rise structures and elite residences that overshadow the neighborhood. Dwellings are constructed informally and often lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

For certain residents, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and apartments with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.

"There's no proper healthcare, proper streets or sewage systems and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," explains A Selvin Nadar, 56, who moved from southern India in that period. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

Yet certain residents, including this protester, are opposing the redevelopment.

None deny that this community, historically ignored as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they fear that this plan – lacking community input – could potentially convert valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, forcing out the disadvantaged, migrant communities who have lived there since the nineteenth century.

These were these shunned, displaced people who built up the uninhabited area into a frequently examined example of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between $1m and two million dollars annually, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately a million people living in the packed sprawling neighborhood, fewer than half will be able for replacement housing in the development, which is projected to take a significant period to accomplish. Others will be relocated to wastelands and salt plains on the distant periphery of the metropolis, potentially fragment a generations-old community. Certain individuals will receive no housing at all.

Those allowed to stay in Dharavi will be provided apartments in tower blocks, a major break from the evolved, communal way of living and working that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and material recovery are expected to decrease in quantity and be transferred to a designated "business area" far from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like Shaikh, a leather artisan and long-time of his family to reside in this community, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-floor operation produces garments – tailored coats, luxury coats, studded bomber jackets – sold in high-end shops in south Mumbai and overseas.

Household members dwells in the accommodations downstairs and his workers and garment workers – laborers from other states – live on-site, permitting him to afford their labour. Away from Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are frequently tenfold costlier for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

In the administrative buildings close by, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project shows a very different perspective. Slickly dressed people mill about on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, buying continental baked goods and pastries and having coffee on a terrace near a restaurant and dessert parlor. This represents a world away from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that sustains local residents.

"This represents no development for our community," explains Shaikh. "This constitutes a huge real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for our community to continue."

Furthermore, there's concern of the corporate group. Headed by a powerful tycoon – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the government head – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Even as administrative bodies labels it a collaborative effort, the corporation invested a significant amount for its 80% stake. A case alleging that the project was improperly granted to the developer is being considered in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to publicly resist the project, local opponents state they have been experienced an extended period of pressure and threats – including communications, clear intimidation and suggestions that opposing the project was equivalent to opposing national interests – by figures they allege work for the business conglomerate.

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