2,871 acres of forest encroachment in Bangalore City District..!?
A case will be registered against the encroachers under the Forest Act and an inquiry will be conducted and action will be taken to clear the encroachment. In 18 cases in the Bengaluru city division, the squatters have obtained an injunction from the high court to prevent them from vacating the squatters. Forest, Biology, and Environment minister Ishwara Khandre said that 2871.37 (acre-gunite) of forest land has been encroached on in 1051 cases since 1978 in the Bengaluru city district and that necessary steps have been taken to vacate the injunction.
Answering bjp Muniraju Gowda's question, he said that there were no cases of encroachment in Bangalore City and Bannerghatta National Park before 1978. But after 1978, 45.01 acres in 65 cases in Bangalore North Taluk, 59 acres in 20 cases in Bangalore North (Apara) Yalahanka, 570 acres in 250 cases in Bangalore East, 1277.33 in 283 cases in Bangalore South Taluk and 332.28 acres in 86 cases in anekal Taluk. A case will be registered against the encroachers under the Forest Act and an inquiry will be conducted and action will be taken to clear the encroachment. In 18 cases in the Bengaluru city division, the squatters have obtained an injunction from the high court to prevent them from vacating the squatters. The minister said that necessary steps have been taken to vacate the restraining order.
Muniraju Gowda, who spoke before this, said that the price of land in Bangalore city has come to gold. They have encroached on thousands of acres of forest land. Even after 19 years of occupation, they are not able to vacate. He questioned what action the government had taken to level the officers and the powers involved in it.
Those who live on the edge of the forest have within the forest the graves of their families who have passed away. They are not allowed to worship there. Some places have temples. The forest department is not allowing worship there. mla Muniraju Gowda said that the government should take action so that their trust is not compromised.
