Meera Bhardwaj:
With a whopping encroachment of 2.04 lakh acres, Karnataka govt’s assertion of evicting big forest encroachers needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Small encroachers themselves constitute a whopping 1.15 lakh acres that is people owning less than three acres of forest/patta land who won’t be cleared.
Therefore, Siddaramaiah govt will target only those people owning between three to more than 30 acres of forest land which comes to about 89,140 acres across the state.
NO ACTION AGAINST LESS THAN 3 ACRES ENCROACHERS
In pursuance of this decision, the State Government has informed the court that out of the forest encroachments in all the districts, in the cases where encroached land including patta land both totally is lesser than 3.00 acres, such encroachment till further notice should not be evicted.
TOTAL FOREST CASES PENDING: 1,10,626
The details of the extent of forest land encroachments pertaining to Karnataka and the total forest cases are as under:
Encroachment Total Cases Extent in Acres
dimension
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Less than 3 acres 86,352 1,15,089.25
3-10 acres 23,423 71,108.13
10-30 acres 718 12,898.25
More than 30 acres 133 5,344.33
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Till date, only 27,667 acres out of 2.04 lakh acres of encroached forest land has been recovered. This means only 12-13 percent of forest land has been recovered by the Karnataka Forest Department.
During Siddaramaiah’s second tenure as CM – the last two years (2022-24), a measly 2055.26 acres of forest land has been recovered.
His last tenure as CM was better (between 2014-18), as 19,800.573 acres of forest land had been retrieved.
During Basavaraj Bommai’s (2021-22) short term as CM, 147.610 acres was recovered.
While during B S Yeddyurappa’s tenure (2019-21), 891.21 acres was recovered.
During H D Kumaraswamy’s short term (2018-19), 4812.47 acres of forest land was recovered from encroachers.
YEAR CASES RECOVERED LAND (ACRES)
2014-15 1682 3593.133
2015-16 1302 5313.490
2016-17 0848 8009.160
2017-18 0665 2884.770
2018-19 1875 4812.470
2019-20 0153 400.760
2020-21 0034 490.450
2021-22 0028 147.610
2022-23 0024 155.490
2023-24 0322 1899.770
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TOTAL 6933 27,667.77 acres recovered
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From the above data, one can gauge how serious, successive govts have been during the last decade on the issue of eviction of forest encroachers especially in the 10 Western Ghats bound districts. Till date, only 6933 cases have been resolved in the state and 27,667.77 acres of forest lands has been retrieved.
As per state government’s own records (Gazetted Manager (Land Records), Karnataka Forest Department), 2,04,229.762 acres of forest land has been encroached across the state. Recently, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has reiterated that all forest land grabbers will be evicted. In fact, Karnataka govt has conceded that the present forest cover of the state is not commensurate with its geographical area.
CONFLICTING DATA OF FOREST COVER
As per Forest Survey of India (FSI) report, 2021, the forest cover of Karnataka is just about 20.19 percent and in 2023, it rose to 20.21 % which is 40,67,822 hectares. Between April-December 2023, Karnataka added another 2892 hectares. But how much has really been added is a million-dollar question as even coffee estates, plantations have been recorded as forests?
Further, as per FSL Report, 2021, the moderately dense forest cover in the state has decreased by 63 sq kms. The survey also claims the total green cover has increased in the state by 155 sq kms.
FOREST ENCROACHMENTS PITIABLE SAGA
Districts Encroached Area (in acres)
Shivamogga 81,502
Chikkamagaluru 30,641
Uttar Kannada 28,344
Kodagu 7,159
Kolar 6,605
Gadag 5,172
Chamarajnagara 4,505
Dakshin Kannada 4,058
Belagavi 3,765
Ramnagara 3,738
Bidar 3,274
Haveri 3,071
Raichur 2,609
Mandya 2,552
Mysuru 2,518
Yadgir 2,282
B’lore Urban 2,043
B’lore Rural 864
Udupi 1,824
Chikkaballapur 1,773
Tumakuru 1,568
Kalburgi 1,419
Hassan 1.124
WESTERN GHATS ENCROACHMENTS
Out of 2.04 lakh acres forest land encroached, 1.65 lakh acres have been encroached in 10 Western Ghats bound districts of Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Uttar Kannada, Belagavi, Dakshin Kannada, Udupi, Kodagu, Hassan, Mysuru and Chamarajnagara.
However, the Malnad heartland, Shivamogga district takes the cake with encroachment of 81,502 acres. This has been going on for decades with the connivance of politicians and elected representatives.
According to activists, this district has a history of forest encroachments wherein various ministers from all the three major parties (Kagodu Thimmappa from INC) have been involved in large-scale diversion of forests for agriculture, plantations, estates and other purposes.
CLEARANCE TASK FORCE
Early, this month, the state forest minister Eshwar Khandre set up a “Forest & Western Ghat Encroachment Clearance Task Force” for clearing all encroachments (which includes illegal resorts, homestays, plantations, buildings, etc) spread across 10 Western Ghats bound districts.
Formed under the leadership of PCCF & Head of Forest force, the task force has started the process of clearing encroachments that have sprung up after 2015. The Action Taken Report is expected to be submitted in a few months. In fact, the state govt has admitted that the recurring landslides in the Western Ghats including Charmadi, Shiradi ghats and other areas has been due to unsustainable development.
NEW ENCROACHMENT CASES
Let’s take a look at forest encroachments and the number of cases pending in Karnataka. As per Karnataka Forest Department, 44,608 cases of encroachment are pending with only 355 cases resolved. Added to this, during 2023-24, 1385 fresh encroachment cases have been registered by KFD.
Further, encroachments in Bangalore Circle have been found very high. This includes Bangalore Urban and Rural with 2907 acres, Ramnagara with 3738 acres, and Chikkaballapur with 1773 acres. Presently, recovery of forest lands is going on in and around Bengaluru district.
TOTAL FOREST COVER
With conflicting figures from FSI and state arising as the Karnataka government claims it has a forest cover of 27 percent and it would enhance it to 33 percent in the background of climate change scenario. It is difficult to ascertain how much is the forest coverage in the state as per these records.
Meanwhile, protests are continuing in the Western Ghats bound taluks of NR Pura, Koppa and Sringeri on the issue of eviction of encroachers. However, the chief minister has stated the eviction drive will continue and forest lands will be reclaimed soon.