Time News Desk: The government of India's richest state Maharashtra, ruled by a Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP coalition, has formally awarded a project to redevelop the 259-hectare slum sprawl in Dharavi locality of the country's financial capital Mumbai to an Adani Group firm.

The project, which reportedly has a revenue potential of Rs 20,000 crore, involves rebuilding the Dharavi slum area, once considered Asia's biggest slum sprawl in central Mumbai, located near the BKC business district, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

The project was won by Adani Properties in November last year through competitive bidding which also saw realty major DLF and Naman Developers competing.

However, for most residents of Dharavi, the redevelopment project has injected a sense of uncertainty among them about the future in terms of livelihood as well as accommodation. Dharavi is dotted with thousands of huts and shanties and several small-time businesses.

"We were shocked to know that the state government has given the green signal to an Adani Group firm for the project. There are hundreds of ground-plus two-story structures in the locality in which one room is occupied by the house owner and the other by the tenant, and the former depends on the rent money to run his household," PTI quoted Paul Raphel, president of Dharavi Nagrik Seva Sangh, as saying.

"Adani Group is getting 10 crore square feet development rights for Rs 5,069 crore and getting additional railway land with government's money. The last survey in the area was conducted in 2008 and the eligibility date for structures was kept at January 1, 2000, whereas as per the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) it is 2011," PTI quoted a Dharavi resident and a lawyer Sandip Kataki as saying.

"If the government really wants to redevelop Dharavi, then a fresh survey should be conducted and the last date of the survey should be the cutoff date for eligibility," he said, adding 80 percent of people were dependent on local units and businesses which need to be safeguarded.

"No family should be sent out of Dharavi in the name of redevelopment. Adani is getting six crore square feet area for sale, from which he is going to earn Rs 3,00,000 crore. Who is going to prosper in the Dharavi project? Local residents or Adani?" the lawyer claimed