BENGALURU: Forest, Environment and Ecology Minister Eshwar Khandre on Tuesday said that two lakh acres of forest land have been encroached in the state, most of them in Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada districts.
At a closed-door meeting with officials on Tuesday, Khandre directed them to clear the encroachments at the earliest on a priority basis. He said there are Central and state government lands for forest conservation, yet it is shocking to note that there is encroachment happening.
“Encroaching forest land is a crime and cases should be booked against encroachers. The first priority in clearing encroachments should be in areas around Bengaluru, especially in Kothanur, where forest land worth Rs 400 crore was encroached and converted to revenue land by the revenue department’s sub-divisional officer and Tahsildar,” he said, adding that while a case has been booked, the land is yet to be recovered.
He added that increasing encroachment was also one of the reasons for the rise in man-animal conflict.
In the last three months, around 2,000 acres of encroachments have been cleared, but more needs to be done. Khandre pointed out that there are around 13,155 cases involving 31,864 acres of land. Of this, in 7,000 cases, land was granted.
The nodal officers have been directed to check and dispose of the cases at the earliest. He also told the forest officials not to harrass farmers who had encroached up to three acres of forest land before the 1980s, but instead to first target the bigger encroachers.
He told the officials to prepare a list of encroachments --- district-wise, sector-wise, division-wise and circle-wise. Based on the details, the next course of action will be decided.
Meanwhile, Khandre said that on getting cabinet approval, the forest department will open a three-month window for people possessing wildlife articles to surrender them. He added that a discussion has been held with the law department.