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For months, intimidating communications persisted. Originally, reportedly from an ex-law enforcement official and a retired army general, and then from the authorities. Ultimately, a local artisan states he was ordered to the police station and instructed bluntly: remain silent or face serious consequences.

The leather artisan is part of a group resisting a multimillion-dollar project where Dharavi – one of India’s largest and most storied slums – will be razed and transformed by a large business group.

"The distinctive community of Dharavi is like nowhere else in the globe," explains the protester. "Yet they want to destroy our way of life and silence our voices."

Opposing Environments

The narrow alleys of Dharavi sit in stark contrast to the high-rise structures and luxury apartments that dominate the settlement. Residences are built haphazardly and often missing basic amenities, small-scale operations emit toxic smoke and the atmosphere is saturated with the overpowering odor of uncovered waste channels.

Among some individuals, the promise of a renewed Dharavi into a modern district of luxury high-rises, well-maintained green spaces, modern retail complexes and apartments with multiple bathrooms is a hopeful vision achieved.

"There's no proper healthcare, roads or sewage systems and there are no spaces for youth to recreate," explains A Selvin Nadar, fifty-six, who migrated from his home state in 1982. "The single option is to clear the area and provide modern residences."

Community Resistance

But others, like this protester, are fighting against the project.

Everyone acknowledges that the slum, historically ignored as informal housing, is in stark need investment and development. Yet they are concerned that this initiative – absent of public consultation – is one that will turn premium city property into a luxury development, forcing out the marginalized, migrant communities who have resided there since the late 1800s.

This involved these shunned, displaced people who established the vacant wetlands into an extensively researched phenomenon of community resilience and business activity, whose production is estimated at between $1m and two million dollars per year, making it a major unofficial markets.

Displacement Concerns

Of the roughly a million inhabitants living in the crowded 220-hectare neighborhood, less than 50% will be qualified for replacement housing in the project, which is expected to take an extended timeframe to complete. Others will be relocated to wastelands and saline fields on the far outskirts of Mumbai, risking break up a generations-old neighborhood. Some will be denied homes at all.

Those allowed to continue living in the neighborhood will be provided units in high-rise buildings, a significant rupture from the natural, collective approach of residing and operating that has maintained this area for so long.

Businesses from clothing production to clay work and recycling are likely to decrease in quantity and be moved to an allocated "industrial sector" separated from people's residences.

Existential Threat

In the case of the leather artisan, a leather artisan and third generation resident to live in Dharavi, the project presents an existential threat. His informal, three-storey facility produces garments – formal jackets, premium outerwear, studded bomber jackets – sold in premium stores in the city's affluent areas and abroad.

Household members lives in the accommodations below and employees and garment workers – migrants from north India – also sleep there, permitting him to sustain operations. Outside Dharavi's enclave, accommodation prices are typically 10 times costlier for basic accommodation.

Harassment and Intimidation

Within the official facilities close by, a visual representation of the Dharavi project illustrates an alternative perspective. Fashionable people gather on cycles and e-vehicles, purchasing continental bread and croissants and enlisting beverages on a patio adjacent to Dharavi Cafe and treat station. This depicts a world away from the affordable idli sambar morning meal and budget beverage that maintains Dharavi's community.

"This is not development for us," states the protester. "It's a massive land development that will price people out for our community to continue."

Additionally, there exists skepticism of the development company. Run by a powerful tycoon – among the country's wealthiest and an associate of the Indian prime minister – the conglomerate has faced accusations of favoritism and ethical concerns, which it denies.

Even as administrative bodies describes it as a joint project, the business group contributed $950m for its controlling interest. A lawsuit claiming that the initiative was questionably assigned to the corporation is under review in the top court.

Continued Intimidation

From when they initiated to publicly resist the redevelopment, local opponents state they have been faced ongoing efforts of pressure and threats – including messages, explicit warnings and implications that speaking against the development was equivalent to speaking against the country – by figures they allege represent the business conglomerate.

Part of the group suspected of delivering warnings is {a retired police officer|a former law enforcement official|an ex-c