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Over an extended period, threatening phone calls recurred. At first, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a former defense officer, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Finally, a local artisan asserts he was ordered to the police station and warned explicitly: remain silent or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is among those opposing a expensive initiative where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be razed and modernized by a corporate giant.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is exceptional in the planet," states the resident. "However they want to eradicate our community and prevent our protests."

Opposing Environments

The cramped lanes of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that dominate the area. Homes are built haphazardly and often lacking adequate facilities, informal businesses produce dangerous fumes and the atmosphere is saturated with the unpleasant stench of uncovered waste channels.

Among some individuals, the prospect of a renewed Dharavi into a developed area of high-end towers, well-maintained green spaces, contemporary malls and homes with proper sanitation is a hopeful vision realized.

"We don't have sufficient health services, proper streets or sewage systems and we have no places for kids to enjoy," explains A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who relocated from his home state in that period. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and build us new homes."

Community Resistance

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

All recognize that Dharavi, long neglected as an illegal encroachment, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. Yet they are concerned that this project – absent of community input – might turn premium city property into a luxury development, forcing out the marginalized, immigrant populations who have resided there since the nineteenth century.

These were these shunned, migrant workers who developed the uninhabited area into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and economic productivity, whose output is valued at between a significant amount and a substantial sum annually, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about a million residents living in the crowded sprawling neighborhood, fewer than half will be able for alternative accommodation in the development, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to complete. The remainder will be moved to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the distant periphery of Mumbai, risking break up a generations-old social network. Some will receive no homes at all.

People eligible to stay in the neighborhood will be provided apartments in high-rise buildings, a major break from the natural, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has maintained the community for so long.

Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and recycling are likely to shrink in number and be relocated to a designated "industrial sector" distant from people's residences.

Existential Threat

For residents like the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation inhabitant to reside in Dharavi, the project presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, three-storey operation makes leather coats – tailored coats, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in south Mumbai and internationally.

Relatives dwells in the accommodations downstairs and laborers and sewers – workers from different regions – reside there, permitting him to sustain operations. Outside this community, housing costs are often tenfold more expensive for a single room.

Threats and Warning

At the official facilities nearby, an illustrated mock-up of the redevelopment plan illustrates a contrasting outlook. Fashionable people mill about on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, purchasing international baguettes and croissants and enlisting beverages on a patio outside Dharavi Cafe and Ice-Cream. It is a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This is not development for us," says the artisan. "This constitutes an enormous property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

There is also concern of the corporate group. Headed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the national leader – the conglomerate has faced accusations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Although the state government labels it a joint project, the business group contributed nearly a billion dollars for its majority share. Legal proceedings stating that the project was questionably assigned to the business group is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to publicly resist the redevelopment, protesters and community members assert they have been subjected to an extended period of harassment and intimidation – involving phone calls, direct threats and implications that speaking against the initiative was comparable with opposing national interests – by figures they claim represent the business conglomerate.

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