In a effort to take up compensatory afforestation, some companies are buying private land from farmers in Belagavi district to replace forestlands that they have used for industrial and other purposes.
Jindal Steel Works has informed the district administration that it will buy 878 acres of private land at Gavali village in Khanapur taluk. “It has issued advertisements in newspapers inviting objections, if any. According to the procedure, it should hand over that land to the Forest Department so that we take up afforestation at the earliest,” a senior department officer said. “We were hoping to get possession of the land before the monsoon so that the planting may start. But we may have to wait a few months. We will plan for the returning monsoons or wait till the next June rains,” the officer said.
EcoGen developers and consultants recently made an agreement with farmers to buy around 225 acres of land in Hulnad village in Belagavi district to compensate for the forestland diverted for a wind power project near Davangere. One more company has initiated the process of buying around 50 acres of land in Onkara near the Bandipur tiger reserve to compensate for the land usage in north Karnataka.
Environment conservationist Giridhar Kulkarni calls it a good idea. The Ministry of Forests has made compensatory afforestation mandatory. It has allowed firms to buy any kind of non-forest land and hand it over to the State government to conserve and develop forests. The State government has advised firms to buy lands bordering forest areas so that wild animals are protected. It also addresses issues such as human-animal conflict, crop loss, cattle kill, and human deaths. We are requesting the Forest Department not to disturb such habitats so that wildlife thrives, he added.