BANGALORE: The Karnataka government on Monday constituted an expert committee to split BBMP.

Former chief secretary BS Patil will head the committee, while former BBMP commissioner Siddaiah and urban affairs expert V Ravichander are its members. The panel will recommend the ways and means to split the palike and take up administrative matters. It has been given three months to submit a report.

Bangalore district incharge minister Ramalinga Reddy had written a letter to chief minister Siddaramaiah in August 2013 batting for splitting BBMP. Besides Reddy's letter, promise of splitting BBMP found mention in the Congress manifesto of the 2013 assembly polls.

The government has cited administrative set ups in London, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi cities for the reason for splitting BBMP, which has over 800sqkm
An official order says Mumbai has 603 sq km and has 8 municipal corporations and 9 city municipal corporations (CMCs). Kolkota with 186 sq km has 100 wards and 38 CMCs.

The government has also compared London and said that the capital of England has the same population of Bangalore but has 32 independent city regions.

Sources in the urban development department (UDD) said that a proposal to split palike on the lines of Delhi is also working.

The 272-member Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was split into three in 2012 by creating new North, South and East MCDs. The north and south MCD has 104 counselors each, while the east MCD is a 64-member body. All three MCDs have elected mayors. New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) consisting of VVIP areas and Lyten's Delhi also exists, but is governed by Union ministry of home affairs (MHA).

BMP was upgraded to BBMP in 2007 and poll was held to 198 wards was held in March 2010. The election to BBMP is scheduled in March/April 2015.