India, Aug. 7 -- At Meghwadi, one of the oldest slum settlements in Dharavi, frantic scenes played out on the streets on Thursday after demolition crews arrived without warning and started tearing down residents' homes.

As women hurriedly stuffed clothes into plastic bags, children clung to their parents, packing school bags and books while earthmovers moved into the settlements' narrow lanes near the railway tracks at the Matunga Labour Camp. "Hammers rained down on school books even as children pleaded with the workers to return them," said Karunanidhi Kannan, an advocate from Dharavi.

On Thursday, four homes housing three families in Meghwadi were razed as part of the Rs.95,790-crore Dharavi Redevelopment Project being executed by Ad...