BENGALURU: Industries Minister R V Deshpande and other influential people who face allegations of occupying a reserved plantation forest at Allalasandra-Jakkur on Kempegowda International Airport Road are unlikely to get immediate relief.
Calls to Deshpande for his reaction went unanswered. Earlier, Deshpande denied allegations of encroachment and had said that his family legally purchased the land allotted to the displaced families.
The Bengaluru Urban district administration in its report to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that the 177 acres and 28 guntas of land in Allalasandra-Jakkur continues to be forest land according to records, sources said.
Deshpande owns a house and 11 acres on the forest land. The local assistant commissioner had issued notices to 50 people and firms, including Deshpande and his wife Radha.
On September 21, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had alleged that the 177 acres of forest land was encroached by politicians and builders, including Deshpande.
Sources in the chief minister’s office said Bengaluru Urban district deputy commissioner V Shankar on Monday inspected the land with forest and revenue officials and verified documents. He later submitted a report to the chief minister, saying the land in question, including the patch owned by Deshpande, was part of the reserved plantation forest.
In his report, Shankar is said to have pointed out that the area was notified as a reserved plantation forest by the then Mysore government in 1940 after leaving 199 acres to the Jakkur Flying School.
A part of the forest land was given as compensation to around 14 families displaced during the construction of the Manchanabele reservoir in 1965.
Sources said the chief minister had sought a status report on the land following Kumaraswamy’s 10-day deadline to reclaim the encroached land.