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Over an extended period, coercive phone calls persisted. At first, supposedly from a retired cop and a retired army general, subsequently from the authorities. Finally, a local artisan asserts he was ordered to the local precinct and told clearly: keep quiet or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is part of a group opposing a expensive project where one of India's largest slums – a massive informal community with rich history – faces razed and transformed by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of Dharavi is exceptional in the world," explains the protester. "However their intention is to dismantle our way of life and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of the slum stand in sharp opposition to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that loom over the area. Homes are built haphazardly and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries release harmful emissions and the environment is saturated with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

For certain residents, the vision of Dharavi transformed into a developed area of high-end towers, neat parks, modern retail complexes and apartments with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future come true.

"There's no adequate medical facilities, roads or water management and there's nowhere for children to play," states A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who migrated from southern India in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Resident Opposition

But others, like the leather artisan, are opposing the project.

None deny that Dharavi, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need financial support and improvement. Yet they fear that this plan – absent of community input – might convert valuable urban land into an elite enclave, displacing the disadvantaged, immigrant populations who have lived there since the late 1800s.

It was these marginalized, relocated individuals who developed the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and economic productivity, whose economic value is estimated at between one million dollars and a substantial sum per year, making it a major informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly one million residents living in the packed 2.2 square kilometer zone, a minority will be able for alternative accommodation in the redevelopment, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Additional residents will be transferred to undeveloped zones and saline fields on the distant periphery of the city, risking fragment a long-established social network. A portion will be denied housing at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the area will be given units in multi-story structures, a major break from the natural, shared lifestyle of residing and operating that has sustained this area for so long.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and material recovery are likely to reduce in scale and be transferred to a designated "business area" separated from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

For those such as the leather artisan, a workshop owner and third generation resident to call home this community, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His rickety, three-floor facility makes leather coats – sharp blazers, luxury coats, fashionable garments – sold in high-end shops in south Mumbai and abroad.

Household members resides in the rooms downstairs and his workers and sewers – migrants from north India – live on-site, permitting him to afford their labour. Outside Dharavi's enclave, housing costs are typically 10 times more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

At the government offices nearby, a conceptual model of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting outlook. Fashionable residents gather on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, buying international baguettes and croissants and socializing on a terrace outside a coffee shop and Ice-Cream. This depicts a complete departure from the 20-rupee idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that supports the neighborhood.

"This is not development for our community," says the protester. "This constitutes an enormous property transaction that will price people out for us to survive."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the corporate group. Managed by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and a close ally of the national leader – the corporation has faced accusations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Although local authorities labels it a partnership, the business group paid $950m for its controlling interest. A case alleging that the project was questionably assigned to the corporation is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

After they started to publicly resist the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been subjected to an extended period of pressure and threats – involving communications, direct threats and suggestions that criticizing the development was equivalent to opposing national interests – by individuals they claim are associated with the developer.

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