India: Only 80 acres of century old 700 acre preserve remains
Over a century ago, 711 acres opposite the ITPL were declared state
forests. Today a mere 80 acres of this forest land remains, while the
rest is under litigation The government must intervene and retrieve
the entire forest patch that has been sold as real estate. But land
prices around Whitefield are high and it might be difficult for the
department to retrieve the forest land. N. Mahesh, Local resident What
was the forest department doing all these years when a government
agency (KIADB) was acquiring the land? The laidback attitude of the
forest department has made them lose prime forest in many parts of the
state Santosh Kumar, Environmentalist
Urba nisation is stealthily eating into the city’s green cover even as
the forest department battles to save it. Over a century ago 711 acres
opposite the ITPL were declared state forests. Today only a mere 80
acres of this forest land remain, while the rest is under litigation.
The forest department has booked cases against several industries
which have occupied the Kadugodi reserve forest, particularly after
the findings of the joint fact-finding committee headed by MLA A.T.
Ramaswamy. The revenue deputy commissioner cancelled the grants of 132
persons in 2007 after the urban forest division filed cases against
them for encroachment. But the battle is far from over. The department
is still fighting to recover about 400 acres of forest land , whose
estimated value is about Rs 2 crore per acre.A number of government
and private establish ments claim ownershi of this land. Among them
are the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB), the South
Western Railway (SWR), and several industries. The forest department
accuses the KIADB of legitimising the encroachments by acquiring
nearly 589 acres of forest land for its use from unauthorised
occupants without bothering to verify their records. The KIADB in turn
allotted the land to industries, compounding the problem, it says. “In
1970 around 130 farmers, who formed the Kadu godi Farmers Co-operative
Society, began farming on forest land. After the society was
liquidated the farmers created bogus records with the help of revenue
officials and distributed the forest land among them themselves.
http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/2008/12/timber.html
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