A conspiracy theorist would find it easy to believe that the Maharashtra government is working as hard as it can to make Mumbai India’s most unliveable city. Sounds extreme? Try this: the new property tax laws seem to have been computed on an inflated premise and are sending shivers through bank balances at the middle and top sections of the city.

At the same time, the state government is hell-bent on ignoring the Supreme Court and the Centre by making life a living hell for street hawkers and vendors in the city. You cannot buy a flat in Mumbai any more on any reasonable or even reasonably high salary without selling your soul and that of your grandchildren to a bank. And even then you’re looking at a distant suburb. But is life easier as a slum dweller? Think again. One room in Khar Danda costs about Rs 3,500 a month to rent. And there’s every chance that all the slums will be bulldozed to allow a builder to make some fancy-shmancy flats at Rs 30,000 a sq ft so that all the poor people can be shifted to Mankhurd or perhaps to some neighbouring state.