To steer Bidadi growth, govt upgrades planning body

Bengaluru: The long-pending plan to develop Bidadi as Bengaluru’s own Gurugram has received a shot in the arm with the Congress-led state government upgrading the eight-year-old planning authority with powers to approve new development plans and undertake civil works.

The move, insiders say, is aimed at reviving the Bidadi Township project, which is spread across 39 villages totalling 10,000 acres of land.

On Saturday, the Urban Development Department (UDD) issued an order to rename and upgrade Bidadi Smart City Planning Authority as Greater Bengaluru Development Authority (GBDA). This is expected to pave the way for faster implementation of government directions including acquisition of land as the “empowered” GBDA can function independently.

Besides upgrading the authority, the government has posted the commissioner of Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (BMRDA) as the head of GBDA while the planning director of BMRDA will be the member secretary.

Earlier this month, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar had announced an extension of Metro to Bidadi, which is 35 km from Bengaluru. Recently, the DyCM along with his brother DK Suresh — who is also the Member of Parliament from Bengaluru Rural constituency — had visited the yet-to-be-formed township, triggering speculations of the project’s revival.

The push to steer growth towards the southern part of Bengaluru’s outskirts comes almost a decade later. In June 2016, the government had created a local planning region in Bidadi to develop 38 villages of Ramanagara district as ‘new’ Bengaluru. The plan did not take off. Almost a decade before that, reality firm DLF Group was given the contract to develop Bidadi as a knowledge park but the company backed out citing delay in acquisition of land and low sentiment among the real estate sector.

On both occasions, the ambitious plan was seen as an alternative to Whitefield, Electronic City and Sarjapur Road, where all the IT majors are located.

A senior official told DH that the government is seriously considering the plan to revive Bidadi Township by creating facilities for people to work, live and play without travelling long distances.

“The purpose of creating GBDA is very different from Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA). Bidadi will be a new Bengaluru but at a small scale,” he said.

Highlights - 'Bidadi to be new Bengaluru'
Bidadi Smart City Planning Authority renamed Greater Bengaluru Development Authority (GBDA)
Sources say the govt is planning to revive Bidadi Township by creating facilities for people to work and live without travelling long distances (Bidadi is 35 km from Bengaluru)
Bidadi will be a 'new Bengaluru' but at a smaller scale, they say
The township project is spread across 39 villages