Bengaluru: The govt is all set to put on hold the move to expand Bengaluru’s civic area to 1,000-plus sqkm by including peripheral villages within the jurisdiction of the proposed Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA). Instead, it will retain the current extent of 709 sqkm.The state cabinet, which will meet Friday, is expected to discuss the matter with a decision on the date of implementation of Greater Bengaluru Governance Act-2024, which was notified on April 24. Following the passing of the new legislation, delineation of GBA’s boundaries had come up for discussion, with many villages on the outskirts of the city expressing interest in getting detached from gram panchayats and being included within the city civic body’s jurisdiction. The BBMP Restructuring Committee, in its first interim report, had suggested the GBA area cover 1,307 sqkm (including BBMP and BDA areas).The committee led by MLA Rizwan Arshad, which submitted the latest report on restructuring Bengaluru city administration, spoke about creating new corporations to govern while not specifying the proposed extent of the city’s civic area.Following this, several legislators in the city and Bengaluru Rural district submitted suggestions seeking the inclusion of some villages into Bengaluru. That had a ripple effect on the realty sector with land prices shooting up in villages on the city’s periphery in anticipation of becoming an integral part of Bengaluru’s civic administrative system. However, the proposed inclusion and expansion of GBA area will not happen immediately. A source said: “Initially, the existing BBMP limits will be considered as the jurisdiction of Greater Bengaluru. In future, decisions will be made regarding the inclusion of gram panchayats and towns on the city’s outskirts.” Although there were proposals to create three city corporations for more efficient governance, the final decision rests with the govt.The govt notified Greater Bengaluru Governance Act-2024 on April 24, which outlines a three-tier civic governance system consisting of Greater Bengaluru Authority, city corporations and ward committees. The Act allows for the formation of up to seven city corporations.In fact, the opposition BJP had criticised the govt’s move to form Greater Bengaluru, calling it a strategy to centralise power and influence the upcoming civic body elections. For over four-and-a-half years, BBMP has been functioning without an elected body, and while the Congress govt promised that the city will be governed by an elected body once Greater Bengaluru comes into existence, the timeline for this remains unclear.On holding elections for newly formed Greater Bengaluru, the source said, “There are proposals to trifurcate BBMP limits into three civic corporations. Once formed, elections to the new local bodies are likely to happen by the year-end. Prior to deciding on the elections, there are many modalities that need to be completed which include jurisdiction of the wards, reservation and others.” On other hand, BJP has already explored legal options to hold civic elections as per the BBMP Act by approaching the court and plans to challenge GBA’s formation.