CM Basavaraj Bommai moots 4 satellite towns around Bengaluru, 6 integrated cities in State

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday mooted the idea of building 'four new Bengalurus around Bengaluru' and six integrated towns in the State.

Foreseeing that Bengaluru's population will go up to around three to four crores in 2040 from the existing 1.3 crores, Bommai opined that the city should be developed like a planet surrounded by satellites.

"Bengaluru should be, according to me, like a planet where there will be satellite towns along with the best of connectivity with rail, road, hi-tech travel systems and easy mode of transportation for the passengers," Bommai said during the Bengaluru 2040 Summit.

Elaborating further, he said there was a need to create infrastructure for connecting Bengaluru and develop 'a new Bengaluru'.

"At least four new Bengalurus have to be built around Bengaluru and in between these four, we can have different types of activities such as health city and integrated industrial township, including those related to aerospace and defence related industry," the Chief Minister said.

According to him, these satellite towns will have all the amenities.

Bommai opined that the time was ripe for Bengaluru to go vertical as the city has grown horizontally enough and added new localities.

Introducing a new slogan 'Nava Karnataka Dinda Nava Bharata' (New India through New Karnataka), Bommai said he is planning six new integrated cites in the state.

Noting that he has introduced many novel proposals and schemes in the state budget that were missing in the previous budgets, the Chief Minister said: "One of the new things is I am planning to build six new cities in the state. These will be integrated townships. They will be the models for building cities in a planned manner."

The Chief Minister told the gathering that his government will create six Karnataka Institutes of Technology on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology for those students who cannot make it to these premier institutions.

Bommai also apprised the audience that he is planning to 'unlock' land for the poor people to have their own houses.

With regard to Mekedatu balancing reservoir project across Cauvery river, which the lower riparian state Tamil Nadu is opposed to, Bommai said his government is working on it.

"We will shortly get the DPR ready and the process of the environmental clearance will be started. That's why I have kept money (Rs 1,000 crore in the 2022-23 budget).

I am confident that we will start the Mekedatu project this year. Once that is done, a long-term plan for Bengaluru can be done," he said.