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For months, intimidating communications continued. Initially, reportedly from a retired cop and a former defense officer, subsequently from the police themselves. Finally, Mohammad Khurshid Shaikh states he was summoned to law enforcement headquarters and warned explicitly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is part of a group opposing a high-value initiative where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be bulldozed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of this area is unparalleled in the world," states the protester. "However the plan aims to eradicate our community and stop us speaking out."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of Dharavi stand in sharp opposition to the towering buildings and elite residences that loom over the settlement. Homes are built haphazardly and often without proper sanitation, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the air is filled with the suffocating smell of open sewers.

To some, the vision of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and residences with multiple bathrooms is an optimistic future realized.

"There's no sufficient health services, proper streets or sewage systems and there are no spaces for children to play," says A Selvin Nadar, in his fifties, who relocated from Tamil Nadu in the early eighties. "The single option is to clear the area and construct proper housing."

Local Protest

But others, such as the leather artisan, are resisting the redevelopment.

All recognize that the slum, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing investment and development. But they are concerned that this initiative – without community input – might turn valuable urban land into a playground for the rich, displacing the marginalized, immigrant populations who have resided there since generations ago.

These were these marginalized, displaced people who developed the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of self-reliance and business activity, whose output is worth between one million dollars and two million dollars a year, making it among the globe's biggest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Of the roughly a million people living in the crowded 2.2 square kilometer area, fewer than half will be able for alternative accommodation in the development, which is estimated to take a significant period to accomplish. Others will be relocated to wastelands and coastal regions on the distant periphery of the metropolis, potentially divide a long-established community. A portion will receive no homes at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the neighborhood will be given apartments in multi-story structures, a major break from the natural, communal way of residing and operating that has maintained the community for generations.

Industries from garment work to ceramic crafts and recycling are projected to decrease in quantity and be relocated to an allocated "commercial zone" far from people's residences.

Survival Challenge

In the case of Shaikh, a leather artisan and third generation resident to reside in the slum, the plan presents an existential threat. His rickety, multi-level facility creates leather coats – tailored coats, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – sold in luxury boutiques in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Household members dwells in the rooms below and employees and tailors – workers from north India – also sleep there, permitting him to manage costs. Away from Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are typically significantly as high for a single room.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities close by, a visual representation of the redevelopment plan shows an alternative vision for the future. Well-groomed residents mill about on cycles and e-vehicles, buying western-style bread and breakfast items and enlisting beverages on a patio near a restaurant and treat station. This represents a world away from the inexpensive idli sambar breakfast and 5-rupee chai that sustains local residents.

"This isn't development for our community," says the artisan. "It represents a massive real estate deal that will render it impossible for residents to remain."

Additionally, there exists distrust of the corporate group. Headed by an influential industrialist – one of India's most powerful and a close ally of the Indian prime minister – the business group has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Even as local authorities calls it a collaborative effort, the business group paid a significant amount for its majority share. Legal proceedings alleging that the redevelopment was unfairly awarded to the corporation is being considered in India's supreme court.

Sustained Harassment

After they started to vocally oppose the project, Shaikh and other residents state they have been faced an extended period of coercion and warning – comprising communications, explicit warnings and suggestions that speaking against the development was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they claim work for the corporate group.

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