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For months, threatening messages continued. Initially, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. In the end, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was summoned to the police station and instructed bluntly: stop speaking out or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is one of many resisting a multimillion-dollar project where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be demolished and modernized by a large business group.

"The culture of the slum is unparalleled in the globe," states the resident. "Yet the plan aims to dismantle our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of Dharavi present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that overshadow the area. Residences are assembled randomly and frequently lacking adequate facilities, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the air is filled with the suffocating smell of exposed drainage.

For certain residents, the vision of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of luxury high-rises, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and apartments with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision achieved.

"We don't have proper healthcare, paved pathways or drainage and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," says a chai seller, 56, who moved from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The single option is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Local Protest

However, some, such as the leather artisan, are opposing the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, long neglected as informal housing, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they are concerned that this project – without resident participation – could potentially turn premium city property into an elite enclave, evicting the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

These were these shunned, displaced people who developed the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose output is estimated at between one million dollars and $2m a year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Among approximately one million inhabitants living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer area, less than 50% will be able for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take seven years to complete. Additional residents will be moved to barren areas and coastal regions on the distant periphery of Mumbai, threatening to fragment a long-established community. Certain individuals will not get residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the area will be allocated units in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the evolved, shared lifestyle of dwelling and laboring that has sustained Dharavi for so long.

Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and material recovery are expected to shrink in number and be transferred to a designated "industrial sector" separated from residential areas.

Existential Threat

For residents like this protester, a leather artisan and multi-generational inhabitant to call home this community, the project presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey workshop makes leather coats – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – sold in premium stores in south Mumbai and overseas.

Relatives lives in the rooms below and his workers and sewers – workers from other states – reside in the same building, enabling him to manage costs. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are typically significantly costlier for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

In the government offices close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting outlook. Well-groomed people mill about on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, buying western-style bread and pastries and socializing on a terrace adjacent to a restaurant and dessert parlor. This represents a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and budget beverage that supports the neighborhood.

"This represents no development for residents," states Shaikh. "This constitutes a huge land development that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's skepticism of the development company. Run by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the government head – the corporation has been subject to claims of favoritism and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Even as local authorities calls it a collaborative effort, the corporation invested a significant amount for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings claiming that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the business group is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

Since they began to vocally oppose the development, local opponents assert they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – comprising messages, direct threats and implications that opposing the development was tantamount to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they assert are associated with the corporate group.

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