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For months, threatening messages continued. Originally, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Finally, one resident asserts he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

This third-generation resident is one of many opposing a expensive redevelopment plan where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – faces bulldozed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is exceptional in the planet," explains Shaikh. "However their intention is to dismantle our way of life and stop us speaking out."

Dual Worlds

The narrow alleys of the slum sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that overshadow the area. Homes are built haphazardly and frequently missing basic amenities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the air is permeated by the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, shiny shopping centers and homes with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future come true.

"We don't have adequate medical facilities, paved pathways or water management and there are no spaces for children to play," states A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who moved from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The only way is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

Yet certain residents, such as the leather artisan, are opposing the redevelopment.

Everyone acknowledges that this community, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring financial support and improvement. But they are concerned that this plan – absent of resident participation – could potentially transform premium city property into a luxury development, evicting the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

This involved these excluded, migrant workers who established the vacant wetlands into a widely studied marvel of local enterprise and economic productivity, whose production is estimated at between $1m and two million dollars annually, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Relocation Worries

Out of about one million people living in the dense 2.2 square kilometer area, a minority will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Additional residents will be relocated to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the far outskirts of Mumbai, potentially break up a historic neighborhood. Some will be denied housing at all.

People eligible to stay in the area will be given flats in tower blocks, a major break from the natural, shared lifestyle of living and working that has maintained Dharavi for so long.

Businesses from garment work to clay work and waste processing are expected to reduce in scale and be relocated to a specific "industrial sector" separated from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

For those such as this protester, a leather artisan and third generation of his family to reside in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His informal, multi-level operation creates apparel – formal jackets, premium outerwear, fashionable garments – marketed in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and internationally.

Household members resides in the rooms underneath and his workers and tailors – migrants from different regions – also sleep in the same building, enabling him to manage costs. Outside the slum, accommodation prices are typically significantly as high for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the administrative buildings nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project shows an alternative vision for the future. Slickly dressed residents gather on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, acquiring international bread and breakfast items and having coffee on a terrace near Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. It is a stark contrast from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that maintains the neighborhood.

"This represents no improvement for our community," states the protester. "It's a massive real estate deal that will make it unaffordable for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists concern of the development company. Run by an influential industrialist – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and financial impropriety, which it disputes.

Although local authorities calls it a joint project, the corporation contributed $950m for its majority share. A case alleging that the project was improperly granted to the business group is being considered in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to publicly resist the development, Shaikh and other residents claim they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – comprising phone calls, direct threats and suggestions that criticizing the project was comparable with anti-national sentiment – by people they allege work for the business conglomerate.

Among those suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c