Joint survey to remove errors from forest notification: Eshwar Khandre

Bengaluru: Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre on Thursday said confusions created by any errors in the deemed forest notification can only be resolved through a joint survey with the Revenue Department. He also promised to put on hold the exercise to evict encroachments till then.

Khandre was speaking to Energy Minister K J George, who is also in charge minister for Chikkamagaluru district, opined the need to make the map of 3.3 lakh acres of deemed forest available to the public to bring transparency over the ownership claims.

Khandre noted that Karnataka had already dropped the first list of deemed forests and the second list was final.

"The state government has already finalised the list of deemed forests in an affidavit before the Supreme Court. It is said that patta land (cultivated land with ownership claims) and schools have been included even in the revised list. However, we can not submit a separate affidavit for each district. If deputy commissioners in all the districts come together with the Forest Department to conduct a joint survey, the information will help to remove errors and submit a (revised) affidavit," he said.

Acknowledging the rising incidents of man-animal conflicts, the minister reiterated that railway barricades will be installed to prevent wild elephants from straying into human habitats.

"Efforts are ongoing to send wild elephants back to the forest and the troublesome tuskers to camp," he said.

Principal Secretary, Revenue Department Rajender Kumar Kataria said that the department was making efforts to make the deemed forest maps available online within a week.