karnataka's decade-old plan for creating a Greater Bangalore entity has finally got a fillip with the state government's recent go-ahead for the merger of seven city municipal councils (cmcs), one town municipal council (tmc) and over 100 villages within the Bangalore metropolitan area under the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (bmp) limits.

This will lead to an addition of about 696 sq km to the existing bmp area. The state government claims that this merger will help the balanced development of this area and also decrease bureaucratic delays in sanctioning infrastructure projects.

The merger proposal is imminent. Yet, its details are still out of the public domain. "The decision to form Greater Bangalore is final, but a number of issues need to be sorted out for which various committees are being formed.I can divulge more information about the exact plan only after a government resolution is issued,' says a senior official with the urban development department of the Karnataka government.

One thing is clear though