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Over an extended period, coercive messages continued. Originally, supposedly from a retired cop and an ex-military commander, later from the authorities. In the end, a local artisan states he was called to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: keep quiet or experience severe repercussions.

The leather artisan is one of many opposing a expensive project where Dharavi – an iconic Mumbai neighborhood – faces razed and modernized by a multinational conglomerate.

"The unique ecosystem of this area is exceptional in the globe," says the resident. "Yet they want to eradicate our way of life and prevent our protests."

Contrasting Realities

The cramped lanes of the slum present a dramatic difference to the towering buildings and luxury apartments that overshadow the neighborhood. Dwellings are assembled randomly and often missing basic amenities, unregulated industries emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is filled with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of the slum's redevelopment into a glistening neighborhood of premium apartments, organized recreational areas, contemporary malls and homes with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream come true.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, proper streets or water management and there are no spaces for kids to enjoy," states A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who migrated from his home state in 1982. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

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

None deny that this community, consistently overlooked as an illegal encroachment, is in stark need economic input and modernization. Yet they fear that this project – without community input – is one that will turn premium city property into a playground for the rich, forcing out the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have been there since generations ago.

These were these shunned, displaced people who built up the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and commercial output, whose output is worth between a significant amount and a substantial sum per year, making it among the globe's biggest unregulated sectors.

Displacement Concerns

Out of about a million inhabitants living in the dense 220-hectare neighborhood, fewer than half will be able for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take a significant period to accomplish. Additional residents will be relocated to barren areas and salt plains on the remote edges of Mumbai, risking break up a long-established neighborhood. A portion will be denied residences at all.

Those allowed to remain in the neighborhood will be allocated apartments in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the organic, communal way of residing and operating that has maintained this area for generations.

Commercial activities from tailoring to pottery and recycling are likely to shrink in number and be transferred to a designated "commercial zone" separated from people's residences.

Livelihood Crisis

For residents like the leather artisan, a workshop owner and long-time inhabitant to live in Dharavi, the redevelopment presents a survival challenge. His rickety, three-floor workshop creates leather coats – formal jackets, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

His family resides in the spaces downstairs and employees and sewers – migrants from other states – live there, permitting him to sustain operations. Beyond the slum, housing costs are often significantly as high for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

At the administrative buildings in the vicinity, a conceptual model of the redevelopment plan depicts a contrasting perspective. Fashionable residents move around on two-wheelers and eco-friendly transport, purchasing western-style baked goods and breakfast items and having coffee on a terrace near Dharavi Cafe and treat station. It is a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that supports Dharavi's community.

"This isn't progress for us," says Shaikh. "This constitutes a huge real estate deal that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the business conglomerate. Run by a powerful tycoon – a leading figure and an associate of the national leader – the conglomerate has been subject to claims of preferential treatment and questionable practices, which it rejects.

Even as local authorities describes it as a partnership, the business group contributed $950m for its 80% stake. Legal proceedings alleging that the project was unfairly awarded to the business group is pending in India's supreme court.

Ongoing Pressure

From when they initiated to actively protest the project, Shaikh and other residents assert they have been subjected to ongoing efforts of harassment and intimidation – involving phone calls, clear intimidation and suggestions that opposing the development was tantamount to opposing national interests – by people they allege are associated with the corporate group.

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