16 acres of forest land reclaimed

BENGALURU:  For the last four years, encroachments in Gullahalli Reserve Forest have not been cleared due to influential encroachers. This, despite court notices served on them. However, last week, Hoskote Range officials after much effort have evicted the encroachers and cleared 16 acres of land worth Rs 30 crore. Out of the 1,596 acres, nearly 100 acres are encroached upon here. The land value is as high as Rs 1.5 crore per acre with its close proximity to Bengaluru. Action for eviction has been initiated by the Karnataka Forest Department in various courts as forest encroachments around Bengaluru Rural and Urban run into thousands of acres.

This reserve forest in Bengaluru Rural is a pristine scrub forest and is home to blackbucks, spotted deer and other wildlife. Presently, cases for recovery of other encroached lands in this reserve forest are in different stages in civil courts. Last week’s eviction drive was done under the guidance of Anthony Mariyappa, DCF, Bengaluru (Rural), and ACF Subbarao. The encroached lands fell in Survey no. 1 of Gullahalli village and Survey no. 45 of Doddaragere village in Block-1 of the reserve forest. Speaking to TNIE, Range Forest Officer Varun Kumar said, “People who had encroached upon had, in fact, built a few houses, sheds and a godown.

They had also given out these buildings on rent. Despite an eviction notice served in 2016 by a Doddaballapur court and notices served many times, the eviction had not been done. However, in the eviction process that went on for two days on September 16 and 17, all eight structures were demolished and the encroached areas recovered.” Another case for recovery of 60 acres in Gullahalli Reserve Forest has been filed in the Karnataka Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Special Court.

Earlier, a few patches of 2 to 2.5 acres were recovered, the Hoskote RFO said. “The moment court orders for eviction are received, the rest of the encroachments will be cleared in the reserve forest. Presently, plantation work has been taken up and native species like mango, jamun, sampige, ficus, hippe(butter tree), etc is being planted to restore the forest area.”