Officials recover 101 acres of encroached forest land in 1 yr

Bengaluru: To create some much-needed lung space in fast-expanding Bengaluru, the forest department seems to have adopted zero tolerance towards forest encroachment cases over the past year. Cracking the whip on land sharks and aggressively pursuing pending land litigation cases at various courts, the Bengaluru Urban forest department has recovered over 100 acres of encroached land and converted them into actual forest areas by taking up planting this monsoon.
The department, over the past year, recovered 101.1 acres belonging to various forest ranges around the city.The 2023-24 total is said to be the second-highest recovery of encroached forest land in recent times in Bengaluru. While 45.3 acres was recovered as part of an eviction drive, 55.2 acres was recovered under summary eviction procedure, regardless of political pressure and stiff opposition from local citizens.
"Summary eviction is nothing but a legal process in which encroachers are evicted pending a full trial based entirely on historic land records. A regular encroachment eviction drive is based on court orders. In most of these cases, despite courts favouring the forest department, encroachers refused to vacate the places and we recovered all such lands by taking help from land enforcement agencies," explained a forest official.
Several state and central govt agencies have also been found guilty of encroaching forest land, including Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) with 6.5 acres and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) with 18 acres. Hailing the achievement of his officials, forest minister Eshwar Khandre said, "Forest is forest, whether it is in the distant Western Ghats or around Bengaluru. In fact, given the growth of the city and rise in pollution levels, Bengaluru very much requires large lung spaces all around to absorb carbon and keep the city cool and green. As our green cover is under severe threat, we've been very particular about forest encroachment cases and have adopted zero tolerance."
In fact, chief minister Siddaramaiah has also repeatedly instructed forest officials to clear large-scale encroachment of forest land, especially around Bengaluru. N Ravindra Kumar, deputy conservator of forests, Bengaluru Urban, said, "We've been following up on court orders and reclaiming our properties all around the city. So far, the highest reclamation of forest land was done during 2016-17 when officials recovered about 143 acres."
GFX
WHERE AND HOW MUCH
Range
Forest name
Villages
Cleared land
Kaggalipura
BM Kaval
BM Kaval
27.2 acres
Kaggalipura
Turahalli state forest
Mylasandra, BM Kaval, Kenchenahalli
16.9 acres
Kaggalipura
Sulikere reserve forest
Sulikere
2.5 acres
Kaggalipura
UM Kaval reserve forest
UM Kaval
1 acre
Anekal
Bhutanahalli
Anekal, Ragihalli
14.4 acres
Bengaluru
Jarakbande sandal reserve & Peenya plantation
JB Kaval, Peenya
18 acres
Yelahanka
Yelahanka
Kothanur
17.3 acres
Others
----
-----
3.6 acres
— Source: Karnataka forest department