Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah will visit Bhopal on October 3 for a state-level Gopalak Sammelan at BHEL Dussehra Ground and to launch development projects, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said.

Shah will lay the foundation stone for an IISER campus near Bhauri on the Bhopal Bypass and unveil a Swami Vivekananda statue there. The visit will also include a Rs 255-crore dairy plant in Ujjain, a fermented milk products plant in Bhopal and the Bhoomi Pujan for the Bhopal Western Bypass.

More than 35,000 cattle rearers and dairy cooperative members are expected from Bhopal, Sehore, Betul, Rajgarh, Harda, Guna, Ashoknagar, Shajapur, Vidisha, Raisen and Narmadapuram. Bonuses will go to cattle rearers associated with the Bhopal and Indore milk unions, and financial assistance to gaushalas. Gopalak Didis will be honoured and Bhimrao Ambedkar Kamdhenu Yojana sanction letters distributed.

• The Madhya Pradesh government released Bhopal’s draft Development Plan-2047, the first new plan in more than two decades; the 1995 plan was intended to run until 2005. It plans for a population of around 45 lakh.
• Of the 1,01,690-hectare investment region, 61,017 hectares (60%) are proposed for urban uses and 40,673 hectares for water bodies, agriculture and other uses. Green and eco-sensitive zones cover 27%; 3,289.94 hectares are for parks, sports grounds, gardens, lakefronts, urban forests and afforestation. Around 10% is recommended for mixed-use recreation.
• Residential use covers 26,240 hectares (43% of planned urban land), divided into existing, proposed, limited-density, future and highly environment-sensitive zones. Limited-density areas include VIP areas, Arera Colony, Chunabhatti, Shyamla Hills, Vijay Nagar, Char Imli and Gandhi Nagar. A new system allows residential and commercial activity in the same zone.
• Commercial zones include MP Nagar, New Market and Misrod; MP Nagar permits redevelopment of old buildings at higher FAR. Shops, offices and housing are allowed in mixed-use areas.
• A 51-km corridor across about 3,000 hectares would connect proposed Education Knowledge Artificial Intelligence (EKAI) City at Bhauri, the airport, commercial areas, logistics and wholesale hubs, and suburbs. It would include housing, hotels, hospitals, IT and AI facilities, data centres, malls, offices and educational institutions. BRTS is proposed initially, with possible later conversion to MRTS; links would connect roads toward Vidisha, Raisen, Narmadapuram and Indore.
• Development Plan roads would increase from 515.78 km to 795.61 km. Roads toward Narmadapuram, Raisen, Berasia, Vidisha and Bilkisganj would be 60 metres wide outside the urban area and 45 metres within it; Kolar Road would be 45 metres and Chiklod Road 30 metres.
• Metro would expand from 27.8 km to 95.82 km, with Transit-Oriented Development zones extending 500 metres on both sides of existing and future lines. Upper Lake (Bhojtal) is divided into BIZ-0, BIZ-1 and BIZ-2; a 1,791.84-hectare eco-sensitive zone is proposed around Ratapani Sanctuary.