India, March 18 -- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Central Railway (CR) may have jointly identified the seven Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) chawls adjacent to the Sandhurst Road railway station as old and dilapidated structures. But that hasn't stopped residents from hoping their buildings will be redeveloped into plush towers, along the lines of the ongoing redevelopment of Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) chawls.

"These buildings are structurally safe and we have informed the authorities about this multiple times," third-generation resident Sanjay K, also a member of the local BIT chawl residents' association, told Hindustan Times. "We want the government to redevelop these chawls like they are doing for BDD c...