If Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has its way, residents in the suburbs of the city that have seen rapid urbanisation but are stuck with rural governance structures, may soon be part of Bangalore Metropolitan Area (BMA).
The agency, which is in the process of preparing the Revised Master Plan 2031, has come up with the latest base map for the city that shows urban agglomeration in close to 3,300 sq. km in and around the city, much beyond the BMA limits.
The BDA has proposed to expand its footprint to 3,300 sq. km, which is two-and-a-half times the present area (1,309 sq. km).
The expansion will include parts of Anekal, Bidadi and the entire area presently under the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Planning Authority (BMICPA). The BDA wants the government to scrap the BMICPA and merge it with the BDA area. The BDA’s fresh proposal comes at a time when its action to chalk out RMP 2031 itself has been challenged after the formation of Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Council.
BDA Commissioner T. Sham Bhatt told The Hindu , “Planning for only a part of this urban agglomeration will be looking at it in isolated silos. A co-ordinated planning for the entire area is required. We are thinking on these lines and may soon submit a proposal to the government,” he said.
However, if the BDA area is expanded to cover this large area, the present green belt will be part of the city and this will effectively regularise illegal developments seen in this belt.
Mr. Bhatt said that deliberations were on in the government to make Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority the only planning authority for the entire BMRDA area and reinvent the BDA into an infrastructure agency. The proposal to reconstitute the BMA will depend on what the government decides to do with the BDA.
