India, May 4 -- For a cluster of ageing chawls and buildings at Khetwadi and Lamington Road in Mumbai, a slogan hovers as a cruel irony: 'Zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi' (With you in life, and even after') goes the tagline of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

These buildings, owned by the largest state-owned insurer, have been deemed dangerous and unfit for habitation. However, even as eviction notices loom and structural risks worsen, the 800 hundred-odd residents who live in them are unwilling - or unable - to leave.

At the entrance to the 137-year-old Angrewadi Chawl in Khetwadi, a notice board prominently displays LIC's eviction order alongside a precautionary warning. Here, five chawl buildings rest precariously on p...