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For months, threatening messages persisted. At first, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh asserts he was called to the police station and told clearly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is among those resisting a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan where this historic settlement – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – is scheduled to be razed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of the slum is unparalleled in the planet," explains the protester. "Yet the plan aims to eradicate our social fabric and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The dank gullies of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the soaring skyscrapers and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the settlement. Dwellings are constructed informally and typically missing basic amenities, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the atmosphere is saturated with the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a modern district of high-end towers, organized recreational areas, shiny shopping centers and residences with multiple bathrooms is an aspirational dream achieved.

"We lack sufficient health services, roads or water management and there's nowhere for kids to enjoy," states a tea vendor, 56, who relocated from his home state in that period. "The sole solution is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

However, some, like Shaikh, are fighting against the plan.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, consistently overlooked as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring economic input and modernization. However they are concerned that this plan – without public consultation – is one that will turn a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into an elite enclave, displacing the lower-caste, working-class residents who have been there since the late 1800s.

It was these excluded, relocated individuals who developed the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of local enterprise and commercial output, whose economic value is valued at between $1m and a substantial sum per year, making it a major unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about one million residents living in the crowded sprawling zone, a minority will be able for new homes in the redevelopment, which is estimated to take an extended timeframe to finish. The remainder will be moved to barren areas and saline fields on the far outskirts of the city, risking break up a generations-old neighborhood. Certain individuals will receive no homes at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the area will be allocated units in multi-story structures, a major break from the natural, communal way of living and working that has maintained the community for many years.

Businesses from clothing production to pottery and material recovery are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" far from people's residences.

Existential Threat

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and long-time resident to live in the slum, the plan presents a survival challenge. His informal, three-floor facility makes garments – sharp blazers, luxury coats, decorated jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

His family dwells in the spaces underneath and employees and garment workers – laborers from different regions – also sleep in the same building, enabling him to sustain operations. Away from Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are typically 10 times costlier for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

At the administrative buildings close by, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project illustrates a contrasting vision for the future. Fashionable residents mill about on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, acquiring western-style bread and pastries and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. It is a stark contrast from the 20-rupee idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that supports the neighborhood.

"This is not progress for our community," says the artisan. "It represents a massive real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's concern of the corporate group. Headed by a prominent businessman – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the government head – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it disputes.

Although the state government calls it a joint project, the corporation contributed nearly a billion dollars for its controlling interest. A lawsuit alleging that the project was improperly granted to the developer is pending in India's supreme court.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to publicly resist the development, protesters and community members state they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – involving messages, direct threats and implications that criticizing the project was comparable with speaking against the country – by figures they allege are associated with the business conglomerate.

Among those suspected of issuing the threats is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c