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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls persisted. Initially, allegedly from a former police officer and an ex-military commander, and then from the authorities. In the end, one resident asserts he was summoned to the police station and instructed bluntly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

Shaikh is part of a group resisting a multimillion-dollar initiative where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – will be razed and transformed by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of the slum is unparalleled in the world," explains Shaikh. "Yet the plan aims to destroy our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of this community sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that dominate the area. Residences are assembled randomly and typically without proper sanitation, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is saturated with the suffocating smell of uncovered waste channels.

To some, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and apartments with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream come true.

"There's no proper healthcare, roads or water management and there are no spaces for children to play," explains a chai seller, 56, who moved from southern India in 1982. "The only way is to demolish everything and construct proper housing."

Community Resistance

But others, including the leather artisan, are resisting the project.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, historically ignored as informal housing, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they fear that this project – absent of public consultation – is one that will turn valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, evicting the lower-caste, migrant communities who have resided there since the late 1800s.

These were these shunned, displaced people who established the uninhabited area into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose economic value is worth between $1m and a substantial sum a year, making it one of the world's largest unregulated sectors.

Relocation Worries

Of the roughly 1 million people living in the dense sprawling area, fewer than half will be eligible for new homes in the development, which is estimated to take seven years to complete. The remainder will be moved to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the remote edges of the metropolis, risking divide a long-established neighborhood. Certain individuals will be denied homes at all.

Residents permitted to continue living in the neighborhood will be given units in high-rise buildings, a substantial change from the natural, collective approach of living and working that has supported Dharavi for many years.

Commercial activities from tailoring to ceramic crafts and recycling are expected to shrink in number and be moved to a designated "business area" far from residential areas.

Existential Threat

In the case of the leather artisan, a leather artisan and multi-generational inhabitant to call home this community, the plan presents a survival challenge. His makeshift, three-floor operation creates apparel – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in south Mumbai and abroad.

Household members resides in the rooms below and laborers and garment workers – workers from different regions – live in the same building, allowing him to sustain operations. Outside the slum, accommodation prices are often significantly as high for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

In the official facilities close by, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan illustrates a contrasting outlook. Slickly dressed inhabitants mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, buying continental bread and croissants and socializing on a terrace near a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. It is a world away from the affordable idli sambar first meal and low-cost tea that sustains local residents.

"This is not development for residents," says Shaikh. "It represents a massive property transaction that will price people out for our community to continue."

There is also distrust of the development company. Managed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the national leader – the corporation has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Although local authorities describes it as a collaborative effort, the corporation paid $950m for its majority share. A lawsuit stating that the initiative was improperly granted to the corporation is being considered in the top court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to vocally oppose the project, protesters and community members assert they have been faced an extended period of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and implications that criticizing the development was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by figures they claim represent the business conglomerate.

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