BENGALURU: Till September 1, a whopping 2,37,079.24 acres of forest land in the state have been encroached, and 1,25,306 cases registered by the forest department, revealed data from the state government.
Interestingly, the total extent of encroachment is the highest for under three acres of land. As per the data, accessed by The New Indian Express, 1,07,477 cases were for encroachment of under three acres of forest land, totalling 1,39,055.99 acres.
The data also showed that in the last 10 years, the forest department has been able to recover 28,103 acres of land. The highest recovery of 8,009 acres was in 2016-17. In 2023-24, the government has been able to recover 1,900 acres of forest land.
The state government recently took a decision not to clear encroachments and displace those who illegally occupied less than three acres of forest land, citing the Forest Rights Act and right to livelihood. But sources in the forest department said the decision was taken not to evict them as the number of cases is high and the land extent is large. “There is no sufficient land or resources to handle these cases. Also, the number of people involved in these cases is very high,” the source said.
The data also showed that 157 cases were regarding encroachment of over 30 acres of forest land, totalling 10720.71 acres. There were 1,079 cases for land encroachment between 10-30 acres, spread across 17,653.3 acres, 16,593 cases between 3-10 acres, totalling 69,627.48 acres.
The largest extent of encroachment is in Shivamogga forest circle at 83,801.18 acres with 52,924 cases. In Chickmagalur circle, 31,459.66 acres of forest land has been encroached and 8,576 cases filed. This is followed by Canara circle where 29,881.72 acres have been encroached and 21,655 cases filed.
A senior forest official said, “Land recovery and identification of encroachment are continuous processes. The data keeps changing. The department is now working on geo- tagging all its properties and satellite images are also being used to find encroachments and detect changes in land use. Clearing land encroachment is not easy as people approach courts and legal battles go on for long.”
