Unable to stop encroachers from gobbling up the city's roads, the BMC will now allow them to eat into taxpayers' money as well. As this paper reported yesterday, the civic body's failure to remove squatters and widen the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) will now cost the city Rs 743 crore, instead of the earlier estimated amount of Rs 18 crore.

After watching the civic body fail for five years to clear encroachment and ease traffic on SCLR, the city's other planning authority, MMRDA, will now build a flyover in order to resolve the issue.