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For months, intimidating messages recurred. Originally, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, subsequently from law enforcement directly. Ultimately, a local artisan states he was ordered to law enforcement headquarters and told clearly: stop speaking out or encounter real trouble.

Shaikh is part of a group fighting a high-value initiative where this historic settlement – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be demolished and modernized by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of this area is unparalleled in the planet," says the protester. "However they want to destroy our community and prevent our protests."

Dual Worlds

The cramped lanes of the slum present a dramatic difference to the soaring skyscrapers and elite residences that overshadow the area. Residences are assembled randomly and typically missing basic amenities, informal businesses emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is permeated by the overpowering odor of open sewers.

For certain residents, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of high-end towers, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and apartments with proper sanitation is an aspirational dream realized.

"We lack adequate medical facilities, proper streets or sewage systems and we have no places for kids to enjoy," states A Selvin Nadar, 56, who migrated from Tamil Nadu in 1982. "The sole solution is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

But others, like the leather artisan, are fighting against the project.

None deny that the slum, historically ignored as unauthorized settlement, is desperately requiring investment and development. However they are concerned that this plan – lacking resident participation – is one that will turn valuable urban land into a luxury development, forcing out the lower-caste, immigrant populations who have lived there since the late 1800s.

It was these marginalized, displaced people who developed the empty marshland into an extensively researched phenomenon of self-reliance and economic productivity, whose production is valued at between a significant amount and a substantial sum a year, making it one of the world's largest informal economies.

Resettlement Issues

Out of about 1 million inhabitants living in the dense sprawling zone, a minority will be able for alternative accommodation in the project, which is estimated to take a significant period to finish. Others will be relocated to undeveloped zones and salt plains on the remote edges of the metropolis, potentially fragment a historic neighborhood. Some will receive no residences at all.

Residents permitted to stay in the neighborhood will be provided units in multi-story structures, a significant rupture from the natural, collective approach of living and working that has supported the community for generations.

Commercial activities from clothing production to pottery and waste processing are projected to decrease in quantity and be moved to a designated "commercial zone" far from residential areas.

Survival Challenge

In the case of this protester, a workshop owner and long-time of his family to call home the slum, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His informal, multi-level operation makes apparel – tailored coats, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – distributed in premium stores in upscale neighborhoods and internationally.

Household members dwells in the spaces downstairs and employees and sewers – laborers from other states – reside there, enabling him to afford their labour. Outside the slum, housing costs are often significantly costlier for a single room.

Pressure and Coercion

At the administrative buildings close by, an illustrated mock-up of the transformation initiative illustrates a contrasting vision for the future. Slickly dressed residents move around on bicycles and electric vehicles, buying international baked goods and pastries and enlisting beverages on an outdoor area near Dharavi Cafe and dessert parlor. This depicts a complete departure from the inexpensive idli sambar morning meal and low-cost tea that maintains local residents.

"This isn't development for us," says the artisan. "It represents a massive property transaction that will render it impossible for us to survive."

Furthermore, there's distrust of the development company. Managed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the business group has encountered allegations of crony capitalism and ethical concerns, which it disputes.

Although administrative bodies labels it a collaborative effort, the corporation contributed $950m for its controlling interest. Legal proceedings claiming that the redevelopment was improperly granted to the business group is under review in the nation's highest judicial body.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to actively protest the project, local opponents assert they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – including messages, clear intimidation and implications that criticizing the initiative was equivalent to speaking against the country – by people they claim are associated with the business conglomerate.

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