Bengaluru Urban district officials recover 101 acres of encroached forest land

Bengaluru: Bengaluru Urban division, known for its struggle to reclaim encroached forests, has recovered 101.5 acres of forest land this year.

Reclaiming encroached forest areas is a challenging task. Officials face pressure from multiple quarters and tackle legal battles, which send the cases into cold storage. The district encompasses a total of 24,690.02 acres of forest, of which over 2,000 acres are under encroachment.

Documents accessed by DH revealed that between July 2023 and July 2024, officials in the division have successfully reclaimed 45 acres and 35.68 guntas in 13 separate cases and have summarily evicted encroachers from an additional 55 acres and 23 guntas.

This has resulted in a total recovery of 101 acres and 18.68 guntas from encroachers in 12 months.

In several instances, government agencies were among the encroachers. Hindustan Machine Tools and the Bangalore Development Authority were evicted from 18 acres, and 7 acres and 18 guntas, respectively.

Among individual encroachers, many have secured status quo orders from the High Court of Karnataka.

Officials noted that the maximum recovery of encroached land in Bengaluru Urban in recent years occurred between 2016 and 2018, with 140 acres reclaimed.

“Most years, the recovery is around 10 to 15 acres due to complicated legal procedures,” an official stated.

The procedure states that officials must issue an eviction notice under Section 64(A) of the Karnataka Forest Act, providing recipients with 30 days to appeal the eviction before the Circle Conservator of Forests (CCF). In many cases, even when the CCF does not stay the eviction order, the encroachments are not removed.

Responding to a question raised in the Legislative Council by member Chidanand M Gowda, Forest Minister Eshwar B Khandre said 2,045.5 acres of forest land in Bengaluru Urban district are under encroachment.

He added that a total of 47 parties, including one accused encroacher in the Bannerghatta National Park area, have obtained stay orders from the court.