BENGALURU: The Karnataka forest department has come up with a new strategy to address the issue of rising land prices and speed up voluntary tribal and forest dwellers’ relocation, to mitigate conflict.
The department is customising packages offered to forest dwellers and tribals, based on the location. They have undertaken the task of assessing the cost of land inside forests, with established human settlements. This is happening now because of the steep rise in land prices around two prime tiger reserves in the state -- Bandipur and Nagarahole. Upset with crop losses and making the most of the opportunity, the sale of farm land has increased this year, for creation of resorts and other commercial units.
While this seems to be a good deal for the state exchequer, it has become a concern for the state forest department which is under pressure to speed up voluntary tribal and forest dwellers’ relocation, to mitigate conflict and secure forest patches. The rapid escalation of land cost around forest patches was also flagged at the last State Wildlife Board meeting.
“Commercialisation of areas around buffer zones of forests has been raised multiple times in Wildlife Board meetings. Recently, we flagged the issue of steep price hikes after Forests Minister Eshwar Khandre had said he would discuss the relocation programme with the chief minister on priority basis. Interestingly, the revenue, forest and tribal welfare departments are not keen to invest in land, making execution of the scheme a lot more difficult,” said a State Wildlife Board member, not wanting to named.
Rajendra Prasad HN, sub-registrar, Gundlupet, said compared to the previous year, the number of inquiries and registrations are rising. The registration software does not accept any application which is listed as forest land. The last time the guidance value was fixed was in 2023, according to which the cost per acre is Rs 4lakh.
Manu M, a real estate agent, said he has plots starting from 5.5 guntas to one acre for sale in Gundlupet, near Melkamanahalli checkpost, around 300metres from the forest boundary. He said these are agricultural lands in buffer zones, and the present cost of one gunta of land here is around Rs 4lakh, while one acre is Rs 1crore.
Abhi K, a farmer near Nagarahole, said, “I have 5.5 acres of land which I have divided into 20 portions for sale. Many wildlife photographers, ecotourism enthusiasts and some government officials have shown interest in purchasing them. I am keeping a portion of my land for agriculture and selling the rest.”
Similar is the case around the Kabini backwaters, where land parcels are on sale for not less than Rs 1.55 crore per acre. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Meenakshi Negi said different types of packages are being offered to people. They can either take a fixed amount, or are compensated based on land cost inside forests, based as revenue department rules. Packages are designed based on land cost and the area.
