Metropolitan project: City to cover 2.5k villages in bid to push growth

Bhopal: As per the survey for Bhopal and Indore metropolitan areas, which has now been completed, development plans for Bhopal will cover 2,523 villages across 12,000 square kilometres. Adjoining districts— Raisen, Vidisha, Rajgarh, Sehore, and Narmadapuram— would be part of the plan for Bhopal. Officials said the areas marked in the survey would be notified once the urban development and housing department grants approval. The development plan of the two main cities would be designed as per their geographic and infrastructural needs, officials added.While introducing the Metropolitan project, the administration pointed to how rapid urbanisation has led to unplanned and haphazard development around major cities. Justifying their bottom line, officials had said that metropolitan region was aimed for planned development of the two cities and its surrounding areas.The govt had clarified that in the metropolitan areas, the powers of municipal corporations, municipalities, and city councils would remain the same. The local bodies will be responsible for tax collection, building permissions, and work related to planned areas despite the project. The metropolitan area will work in non-planned areas and that too only for major projects, officials said. The govt has also announced that after Bhopal and Indore, next in the pipeline was metropolitan areas for Jabalpur and Gwalior.The master plans for Bhopal and Indore will remain on hold until the Madhya Pradesh govt finalises its metropolitan region plans for the two cities, a state minister had confirmed earlier.The plans were completed about one-and-a-half years ago but may be reconsidered or redrafted to align with the proposed metropolitan areas, urban development and housing minister Kailash Vijayvargiya told the state assembly on Feb 24.In May 2025, the MP cabinet approved the MP Metropolitan Region Planning and Development Act, 2025. In Aug 2025, the Act was passed in the state assembly.