BENGALURU: Senior Congress leader and Bhalki MLA Eshwar B Khandre, who is set to be inducted into the new cabinet under Chief Minister-designate DK Shivakumar, on Wednesday said the incoming government is committed to providing good governance and accelerating the development of Karnataka.
Speaking to reporters after arriving in Bengaluru from Delhi, Khandre expressed gratitude to Congress high command and top leaders for reposing faith in him and offering him a place in the new ministry. Khandre said he would work with honesty and dedication to fulfil the expectations of the party leadership and focus on the development of Karnataka, particularly the Kalyana Karnataka region and Bidar district.
A four-time MLA from Bhalki in Bidar district, Khandre currently serves as Karnataka’s Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister. An engineering graduate, he entered public life through the Congress Seva Dal after being inspired by a speech by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
As Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister since 2023, Khandre has spearheaded several initiatives. He oversaw the clearance of more than 12,000 acres of forest encroachments and facilitated the declaration of an additional 15,000 acres as reserved forest land. Under his tenure, the Forest Department planted nearly 11 crore saplings and conducted audits to assess their survival rate.
He introduced the Garudakshi online FIR system to curb forest crimes and initiated the tender process for the 153-acre Vishwaguru Basavanna Biopark in Bengaluru, the city’s first major biological park project in over 150 years. To protect Bengaluru’s green spaces, he declared 5,678 acres around Hessaraghatta as the Greater Hessaraghatta Grassland Conservation Area.
Khandre also introduced standard operating procedures for trekking, elephant camps and safaris, strengthened measures to mitigate human-elephant conflict through railway barricades, solar fencing and elephant trenches, and organised an international conference on the issue. He established a command centre and promoted the use of thermal drones for wildlife monitoring.
He is also credited with introducing risk allowance for frontline forest staff, filling long-pending vacancies, removing concrete around urban trees to improve their health, declaring five cities as single-use plastic-free zones and reclaiming forest land worth thousands of crores, including high-value encroached land in Bengaluru and HMT forest areas. His initiatives have brought unprecedented public attention to forest conservation and environmental protection in Karnataka.
Responding to questions regarding senior Congress leader BK Hariprasad, Khandre said Hariprasad had served the party for decades and possessed vast organisational experience. He added that the party high command would have considered factors such as caste, regional representation and contribution to the organisation before taking decisions on cabinet formation. “All of us will work together to strengthen the party,” he said.