Following the incident of a woman ending her life after Forest officials in Mundaragi taluk of Gadag district cleared crops on encroached forest land (‘bagair hukum’) and many farmers filing petitions in courts seeking rights for cultivation on such land, the State Government on Tuesday informed the Legislative Assembly that the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, would be amended and the words “land grabbing” would be deleted to authorise farmers to cultivate land in forest areas.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy said that the Government would introduce amendments to section 92 (A) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act and delete the words for granting permission to farmers to cultivate land in forest areas.
‘Bagair hukum’ is a piece of government-owned/forest land that has been cultivated by the farmers over the years without having any formal and documented ownership rights over it.
Cases of ‘harassment’
There are many instances of farmers cultivating 2-3 acres in forest areas for many years and Forest Department officials facing accusation of harassing families of farmers citing various rules, the Minister said.
Earlier, H.K. Patil (Congress) raised the issue during the Zero Hour and said two women had consumed poison following clearance of cultivated land by the Forest Department officials at Kelur village in Mundargi taluk and one of them died.
Mr. Patil said though there was a circular which allowed farmers to cultivate up to three acres in the forest region, officials had been evicting farmers. Senior leaders and former Chief Ministers B.S. Yediyurappa and Siddaramaaiah too opposed the Forest Department’s action and demanded that the Government constitute a House committee to look into the issue.
Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said the Forest Department officials had been harassing families citing the Supreme Court and Green Bench orders. Officials had been clearing encroachments by destroying arecanut and other plantations, Mr. Kageri said. K.R. Ramesh Kumar (Congress) said a woman was jailed for encroaching upon six guntas of land in his constituency in Kolar district.
Forest Rights Act
Mr. Madhuswamy said steps would be taken to ensure proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act and amendments would be introduced to the Revenue Act. He said adequate compensation would be given to the victim’s family in Gadag district.
