Of nearly 17,000 acres of forest land in Bangalore Urban district, about 2,871 acres have been encroached upon due to various reasons, Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre informed the Legislative Council on Monday.
“There are 16,988 acres of forest land in Bengaluru Urban division including Anekal. Of this, 2,284.22 acres of forest area have been encroached upon in 704 cases in the Bengaluru Urban division and 587.15 acres of forest area in 347 cases in the Bannerghatta National Park division,” said the Minister in his written reply. Measures are being initiated at various levels to clear the encroached land, he said.
Eviction orders issued
Responding to BJP member Muniraju Gowda, the Minister said that out of a total of 1,051 encroachment cases, eviction orders have been issued in 339 cases. About 403.20 acres of forest area in 63 cases has been cleared. “The rest are at different stages of clearance. Even after the eviction order was given, some people brought an injunction through the Court. The government is committed to clear all encroached land,” he said.
“Out of 704 encroachment cases in all urban divisions, Bengaluru South has the highest number of 283 cases and 1,277.33 acres of forest land has been encroached. There are 250 cases in East Bengaluru and 570 acres have been encroached upon. Cases have been registered against the encroachers under the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963, and investigation is being conducted under Section 64 (A). Action is being taken to clear the encroachments,” he said.
