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For months, intimidating phone calls recurred. Initially, supposedly from an ex-law enforcement official and an ex-military commander, subsequently from the authorities. Ultimately, one resident claims he was called to law enforcement headquarters and instructed bluntly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is part of a group fighting a multimillion-dollar initiative where one of India's largest slums – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be bulldozed and redeveloped by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is exceptional in the planet," says the protester. "But the plan aims to eradicate our way of life and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of the slum sit in stark contrast to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the area. Dwellings are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the environment is saturated with the unpleasant stench of exposed drainage.

To some, the prospect of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of luxury high-rises, organized recreational areas, modern retail complexes and residences with two toilets is a hopeful vision realized.

"We don't have proper healthcare, paved pathways or sewage systems and there's nowhere for youth to recreate," says a chai seller, in his fifties, who migrated from his home state in 1982. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

But others, such as the leather artisan, are fighting against the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, long neglected as informal housing, is urgently needing investment and development. However they worry that this initiative – lacking community input – might transform premium city property into an elite enclave, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have resided 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 commercial output, whose production is valued at between $1m and $2m a year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about a million people living in the dense sprawling zone, a minority will be able for replacement housing in the redevelopment, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to accomplish. The remainder will be relocated to undeveloped zones and coastal regions on the remote edges of the city, risking break up a long-established neighborhood. Certain individuals will be denied housing at all.

People eligible to continue living in the neighborhood will be allocated apartments in tower blocks, a major break from the natural, communal way of living and working that has sustained Dharavi for many years.

Businesses from garment work to ceramic crafts and waste processing are expected to shrink in number and be relocated to a specific "business area" distant from homes.

Survival Challenge

For those such as the leather artisan, a leather artisan and long-time resident to reside in Dharavi, the project presents an existential threat. His informal, multi-level facility creates apparel – formal jackets, suede trenches, fashionable garments – distributed in high-end shops in south Mumbai and abroad.

His family lives in the accommodations underneath and laborers and garment workers – migrants from north India – reside in the same building, enabling him to afford their labour. Beyond Dharavi's enclave, Mumbai rents are frequently significantly more expensive for minimal space.

Pressure and Coercion

Within the administrative buildings close by, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan illustrates a contrasting vision for the future. Fashionable inhabitants move around on cycles and eco-friendly transport, buying continental bread and breakfast items and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area outside a restaurant and dessert parlor. This represents a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and budget beverage that sustains Dharavi's community.

"This isn't progress for our community," explains the protester. "This constitutes a huge property transaction that will price people out for us to survive."

There is also distrust of the business conglomerate. Managed by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and a supporter of the government head – the conglomerate has faced accusations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it denies.

Even as the state government labels it a collaborative effort, the corporation contributed a significant amount for its majority share. A case stating that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to publicly resist the development, Shaikh and other residents state they have been experienced a long-running campaign of coercion and warning – involving communications, clear intimidation and insinuations that opposing the initiative was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by individuals they assert represent the corporate group.

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