BENGALURU: To ensure that status quo of the HMT land at Peenyain Jalahalli is maintained and to prevent further felling of trees or sale of land, the forest department is conducting a detailed tree survey on the land.
The department is also geotagging each tree and conducting species assessments of all plants on the 430 acre 21.853 guntas of land which is under litigation. The Karnataka High Court is hearing the case pertaining to possession and ownership of the land, which is currently under ownership of the HMT, a public sector undertaking (PSU).
A forest department official said that earlier the landscape housed sandalwood and teak trees, as the entire area was the Peenya Plantation and Jarakabande Sandal reserve, which are forest land. “There are reports of alleged tree felling despite court directions to maintain the status quo. To ensure that the status of the land is not altered, we are undertaking a detailed survey of the landscape.
The small plants and mushrooming saplings are also being accounted for. The tree census and landscape report will also be submitted to the court for documentation,” said the official who did not want to be named.
It may be recollected that in June, the forest department sent a letter to HMT Limited asking them to return the land parcel, the current market value of which is estimated to be around Rs 15,000 crore.
The land parcel also houses offices of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Raman Research Institute, Gas Authority of India Limited and residential units. The issue of the state government asking HMT to return the land had also taken a political turn, with Union minister for heavy industries HD Kumaraswamy defending HMT saying that the Central government was making all efforts to revive the PSU.
Another forest department official said, “There is nothing political. According to forest rules and Godhavarman case orders, once a land is declared as forestland, it is always forestland. We are asking the remaining untouched land parcels to be returned.
The tree survey is being undertaken according to court directions, and it is also the need of the hour. The region houses many indigenous and endemic tree species, which need to be preserved. We are planning to replicate the exercise in all other forestland pockets falling in and around Bengaluru, which are being eyed by civic agencies to be converted into tree parks.”
