Deemed forest may shrink further as Karnataka government wants new review panel

Bengaluru: The extent of deemed forests in Karnataka which shrunk by nearly 7 lakh hectares over the last 10 years, may reduce further as the government on Thursday decided to set up yet another committee, the fourth in the last 25 years, to look into the flaws in the final notification issued in May 2022.

Forest Minister Eshwar B Khandre held a meeting with Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda with officials from both the departments before making the announcement of the fourth committee.

"Under Rule 16 of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhinyam, there is a provision to set up a new committee. We will set up a committee of experts who will look into the comprehensive documentation (of land records) of the notified forests as well as the relooking into the current deemed forest," he said.

Khandre said some of the lands identified as deemed forest have notified forests, government establishments, schools and colleges. The meeting with the revenue minister was held in the backdrop of requests for revision of the deemed forests, he added.

Gowda said his department has already taken up survey work in 20 districts and a joint survey with the forest department will put to rest the confusions over the land ownership. "If the forest department gives us the list of all the notified and deemed forest, it will help in the revision process," he added.

Deemed forest shrinking

Following a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court on December 12, 1996 to conserve green spaces that are not notified as forests, the state government had set up an expert committee in January 1997.

The panel's report became the basis for the revised expert committee-1, set up in September 2002, which identified 9.94 lakh hectare (24.58 lakh acre) as deemed forest apart from 33.23 hectares of notified forests.

In May 2014, the government decided to relook into the report and set up a revised expert committee-2. The committee's report, notified in the state gazette on May 21, 2022, put the total extent of the deemed forest at 3.30 lakh hectare (8.15 lakh acres).

Many conservationists had expressed concern over the shrinking of the deemed forest, especially in dropping over 3 lakh acres of land for not having enough trees (50 trees per 2 hectare), will have a major impact on ecology and the wildlife that has for centuries made these lands their habitats.

At the meeting, Khandre suggested to the officials to include new green patches to compensate for the dropping of lands from the current list of deemed forests.