A day after Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre directed officials to remove encroachment on nearly two lakh acres of forest land in Karnataka, the Forest Department on Wednesday took into possession 6.5 acres of encroached land in the B.M. Kaval buffer zone of Turahalli reserve forest.
A team of forest officials used earthmovers to raze a constructed shed on the encroached land and restore it by planting various species of trees, including bamboo, on the border.
The 6.5 acres of forest land, which is valued to be ₹60 crore, was allegedly encroached by a person named Madhusudanananda Swamy. As the encroachers did not possess revenue documents, purchase deed, sanction letter, cultivation certificate related to the forest land, the Assistant Conservator of Forest of the division had ordered the encroachers to vacate the land in August 2017.
On December 29, 2023, the Chief Conservator of Forests, Bengaluru Circle, S.S. Lingaraj, had given an order stating that the land belonged to the Forest Department.
On January 2, Mr. Khandre directed officials to clear encroached forest land in and around Bengaluru on priority basis. Following this, on Wednesday an anti-encroachment drive was carried out. According to a statement issued by the Minister’s office, five cases have already been registered against Madhusudanananda Swamy.
“Land around Bengaluru is worth crores of rupees. Valuable forest land has been encroached upon. It is the duty of the department to save nature, environment, forest, and forest resources. Clear instructions have been given to clear encroachment in cases where orders have been issued in Bengaluru,” said Mr. Khandre.
Mr. Khandre, replying to a question in the recent legislature session, said that Bengaluru Urban had over 8,900 hectares of forest land, but about 2,800 acres had been encroached upon. He said the government had registered over 1,000 cases and recovered 403 acres of forest land.
