Forest dept objects to RMP-2031

The forest department has raised objections to the BDA’s Revised Master Plan (RMP)-2031 as it fears unscrupulous elements might gobble up notified forest land in the city, deputy conservator of forests Dipika Bajpai said on Saturday.

“This RMP-2031, which was proposed last year, is itself a big debate. It doesn’t show the 7,000 to 8,000 acres of forest land as belonging to the forest department,” she said at a panel discussion on ‘Protecting Bengaluru’s Greenery — Finding Solutions for a Liveable Bengaluru’, which was organised by news portal Citizen Matters and the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. “There seems to be some mischief as the RMP mentions the forest area as government land or gomal land.”

She continued: “This means they can do anything with the designated land and use it for other purposes. I sat down with GIS officers for three to four days and identified all the forest land notified in the city. The RMP cannot decide that this is not forest land. We have informed the additional chief secretary about this. There is also ‘C’ and ‘D’ classified land, which is not used for cultivation and has been allotted to the forest department. All this can be used to conserve the forest area.”

Urbanist Ashwin Mahesh, another panellist, said the main cause of the problem was the lack of coordination among different government agencies. “It’s necessary to form a Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) and empower ward committees to bring about a more structured governance,” he added.

Meera K, co-founder of Citizen Matters; and Shubhendhu Sharma, founder and director of Afforrest, a social enterprise, aimed at bringing back native forests, were also part of the panel discussion.