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Over an extended period, intimidating messages recurred. At first, allegedly from a retired cop and a former defense officer, later from the authorities. Finally, one resident asserts he was ordered to the police station and told clearly: stop speaking out or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is one of many opposing a expensive redevelopment plan where Dharavi – a massive informal community with rich history – is scheduled to be bulldozed and redeveloped by a multinational conglomerate.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is exceptional in the globe," explains the resident. "Yet the plan aims to destroy our community and silence our voices."

Dual Worlds

The dank gullies of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the towering buildings and Bollywood penthouses that dominate the neighborhood. Homes are constructed informally and often missing basic amenities, informal businesses release harmful emissions and the air is saturated with the unpleasant stench of open sewers.

Among some individuals, the promise of Dharavi transformed into a glistening neighborhood of high-end towers, neat parks, shiny shopping centers and apartments with two toilets is an optimistic future realized.

"We lack proper healthcare, roads or sewage systems and there's nowhere for children to play," explains a chai seller, fifty-six, who migrated from his home state in the early eighties. "The sole solution is to tear it all down and provide modern residences."

Local Protest

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

None deny that the slum, long neglected as unauthorized settlement, is urgently needing financial support and improvement. But they worry that this initiative – without public consultation – is one that will convert a piece of prime Mumbai real estate into a playground for the rich, evicting the marginalized, immigrant populations who have lived there since generations ago.

These were these marginalized, relocated individuals who developed the empty marshland into a widely studied marvel of community resilience and business activity, whose output is worth between a significant amount and two million dollars annually, making it a major unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Among approximately one million residents living in the packed 220-hectare area, fewer than half will be qualified for replacement housing in the development, which is projected to take seven years to accomplish. Others will be transferred to wastelands and salt plains on the far outskirts of the city, potentially break up a historic neighborhood. A portion will be denied homes at all.

People eligible to remain in Dharavi will be allocated apartments in high-rise buildings, a major break from the natural, shared lifestyle of living and working that has sustained this area for so long.

Businesses from tailoring to ceramic crafts and recycling are likely to decrease in quantity and be transferred to an allocated "commercial zone" far from homes.

Survival Challenge

In the case of the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation inhabitant to reside in this community, the redevelopment presents a fundamental risk. His makeshift, three-storey operation makes leather coats – sharp blazers, suede trenches, studded bomber jackets – marketed in luxury boutiques in upscale neighborhoods and abroad.

Relatives dwells in the rooms downstairs and his workers and tailors – workers from north India – reside there, enabling him to afford their labour. Outside this community, accommodation prices are frequently 10 times more expensive for basic accommodation.

Pressure and Coercion

At the government offices in the vicinity, an illustrated mock-up of the Dharavi project depicts a contrasting vision for the future. Slickly dressed people mill about on two-wheelers and electric vehicles, buying continental baked goods and croissants and socializing on a terrace outside a restaurant and Ice-Cream. This depicts a stark contrast from the inexpensive idli sambar first meal and 5-rupee chai that sustains local residents.

"This is not progress for our community," says the artisan. "It's an enormous property transaction that will make it unaffordable for residents to remain."

There is also skepticism of the corporate group. Managed by a prominent businessman – one of India's most powerful and a supporter of the government head – the corporation has encountered allegations of preferential treatment and ethical concerns, which it rejects.

Even as administrative bodies labels it a partnership, the developer paid a significant amount for its 80% stake. A lawsuit stating that the project was questionably assigned to the corporation is being considered in the nation's highest judicial body.

Sustained Harassment

Since they began to actively protest the development, protesters and community members claim they have been faced an extended period of coercion and warning – involving phone calls, explicit warnings and implications that criticizing the project was equivalent to anti-national sentiment – by people they assert work for the developer.

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