In a startling revelation, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has announced that going by existing trends, India’s ‘software capital’ Bangalore is likely to overtake national capital New Delhi and ‘commercial capital’ Mumbai in population in just 14 years from now!

In its ‘Revised Master Plan-2031’ (provisional, though), the document which is a blueprint of all the developmental works/projects that are to be taken up in the city during the next 15 years, the BDA has stated that Bangalore’s population is likely to increase by a whopping percentage to reach 2 crores by 2031. As per 2011 Census, Bangalore’s population stood at 90.45 lakhs. BDA has predicted that population would register an unprecedented of 124.4% increase during the next 14 years.

The city’s limits are also likely to be extended by 80 square kilometers and there would be pressing need to construct outer ring roads to cater to the ever-growing number of vehicles. Residential land use is likely to increase from the present 212 sq. KM to 424 sq. KM while power requirement is to witness a steep rise from the existing 2638 MW to 4288 MW, the projections say.

Area of agricultural land would have to be increased from the existing 300 sq. KM to 322.6 sq. KM, it has been pointed out.