<p>The officials and team of surveyors have already visited the area and all the preparations for a comprehensive survey is going on in full throttle.<br /><br />The Masagali reserve forest has been encroached relentlessly and blatantly by both the rich and the poor. Due to this encroachment the reserve forest which once spread over 5,300 acres has now shrunk to 4,000 acre.<br /><br />Last year when the officials of Survey of India came to the area to take up survey, the forest officials had misguided them. Due to this the survey work could not be completed. At that time the exact extent of encroachment was not known. <br /><br />Later some sincere officials from forest department asked for re survey of the area. If the impending survey work goes on without any obstacle then the misdeed of some of the forest officials will come to light and the parties who have encroached hundreds of acres of land will also be exposed. Hence the re-survey is giving sleepless nights to not just the encroachers but also to some corrupt forest officials.<br /><br />Sources say that the official survey of Masagali forest was not done after 1942. Since it is raining heavily, the team that has come for re survey has not started the survey work. It is collecting details from the forest department. “The team is doing the preliminary preparations,” said Deputy Conservator of Forest Venkatesh.<br /><br />First place<br /><br />According to the report submitted by Government Land Protection Task Force President Balasubramanyam, Chikmagalur district enjoys the fame of being the district with highest number of encroachment cases. Kadur rules the roost in the district followed by Chikmagalur taluk. It is said that as many as 4,971 people have encroached land in Chikmagalur taluk. <br /><br />According to the Task Force report 1,04,280.35 acre land has been encroached out of the total 4,83,400.25 acre government land in the district. Revenue department sources say that so far none of the encroachment of government land has been cleared.<br /></p>
<p>The officials and team of surveyors have already visited the area and all the preparations for a comprehensive survey is going on in full throttle.<br /><br />The Masagali reserve forest has been encroached relentlessly and blatantly by both the rich and the poor. Due to this encroachment the reserve forest which once spread over 5,300 acres has now shrunk to 4,000 acre.<br /><br />Last year when the officials of Survey of India came to the area to take up survey, the forest officials had misguided them. Due to this the survey work could not be completed. At that time the exact extent of encroachment was not known. <br /><br />Later some sincere officials from forest department asked for re survey of the area. If the impending survey work goes on without any obstacle then the misdeed of some of the forest officials will come to light and the parties who have encroached hundreds of acres of land will also be exposed. Hence the re-survey is giving sleepless nights to not just the encroachers but also to some corrupt forest officials.<br /><br />Sources say that the official survey of Masagali forest was not done after 1942. Since it is raining heavily, the team that has come for re survey has not started the survey work. It is collecting details from the forest department. “The team is doing the preliminary preparations,” said Deputy Conservator of Forest Venkatesh.<br /><br />First place<br /><br />According to the report submitted by Government Land Protection Task Force President Balasubramanyam, Chikmagalur district enjoys the fame of being the district with highest number of encroachment cases. Kadur rules the roost in the district followed by Chikmagalur taluk. It is said that as many as 4,971 people have encroached land in Chikmagalur taluk. <br /><br />According to the Task Force report 1,04,280.35 acre land has been encroached out of the total 4,83,400.25 acre government land in the district. Revenue department sources say that so far none of the encroachment of government land has been cleared.<br /></p>
