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Over an extended period, intimidating messages recurred. Initially, supposedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, later from the police themselves. In the end, one resident asserts he was ordered to the police station and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is part of a group fighting a high-value project where one of India's largest slums – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be bulldozed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The culture of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," explains the resident. "Yet their intention is to eradicate our way of life and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that overshadow the settlement. Residences are built haphazardly and often without proper sanitation, unregulated industries produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is permeated by the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a modern district of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and homes with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream come true.

"We don't have proper healthcare, paved pathways or water management and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states a chai seller, fifty-six, who relocated from his home state in the early eighties. "The single option is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Local Protest

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

None deny that the slum, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they are concerned that this initiative – lacking public consultation – could potentially turn valuable urban land into an elite enclave, forcing out the marginalized, working-class residents who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

These were these marginalized, migrant workers who developed the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and business activity, whose output is estimated at between a significant amount and $2m a year, making it a major informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about 1 million residents living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer area, a minority will be able for alternative accommodation in the development, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to finish. Others will be moved to wastelands and coastal regions on the far outskirts of Mumbai, potentially break up a generations-old community. Certain individuals will receive no residences at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be provided units in high-rise buildings, a major break from the evolved, communal way of residing and operating that has sustained Dharavi for so long.

Commercial activities from garment work to pottery and recycling are expected to decrease in quantity and be moved to a specific "business area" distant from homes.

Livelihood Crisis

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and multi-generational of his family to live in this community, the plan presents a survival challenge. His rickety, multi-level workshop makes leather coats – sharp blazers, luxury coats, fashionable garments – marketed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and internationally.

Household members resides in the rooms downstairs and his workers and garment workers – laborers from other states – reside in the same building, enabling him to afford their labour. Away from Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are frequently tenfold costlier for minimal space.

Threats and Warning

At the government offices nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project illustrates an alternative outlook. Well-groomed people gather on two-wheelers and e-vehicles, acquiring western-style bread and croissants and having coffee on a patio near a restaurant and dessert parlor. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that sustains the neighborhood.

"This isn't improvement for us," states the protester. "It represents an enormous land development that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists concern of the business conglomerate. Managed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the business group has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it rejects.

While the state government calls it a collaborative effort, the developer invested $950m for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings stating that the initiative was unfairly awarded to the developer is pending in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to actively protest the redevelopment, protesters and community members claim they have been subjected to a long-running campaign of pressure and threats – comprising phone calls, direct threats and suggestions that criticizing the project was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by individuals they assert represent the developer.

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