Bengaluru Urban officials identify 273 illegal forest land grants totaling nearly 450 acres

Bengaluru: A month after the state government ordered a special investigation into the non-mutation of notified forests and the illegal grant of forest land, officials in the Bengaluru Urban division have identified 273 such grants that have cost the city nearly 450 acres of forest.

Following a Supreme Court order, the government had set up a district-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) to identify forest land that remains under the control of the revenue department and those granted even after notification as forest.

Officials from the Bengaluru Urban division have now submitted a consolidated list of such grants to the deputy commissioner’s office. The list will be placed before the SIT, headed by the deputy commissioner, for a detailed inquiry.

Nearly 240 of the identified grants fall within the Kaggalipura range forest. Affected forest blocks include Sunkadakatte, Nettigere, Chinnakuruchi, Bhutanahalli, Turahalli Minor Forest, and BM Kaval. The Anekal range accounts for 20 grants, while a few are in Kothanur in northern Bengaluru.

Deputy Conservator of Forests N Ravindrakumar said the details of the grants have been compiled for verification.

"We have listed down the details of the grants in the notified forests as well as Section 4 land. The committee will now look into the grants to decide on the legalities,” he said.

Section 4 forests are those for which the government has issued preliminary notification under the Karnataka Forest Act, expressing its intention to declare the area as forest. Persons cultivating such land are entitled to compensation. Once rights are settled, the government issues a final notification under Section 17 of the Act. Any land grant made after the preliminary notification is illegal.

Studies, including those by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), have shown that the city’s real estate boom has steadily eroded its green spaces. Alongside agricultural and open lands, even notified forests have been encroached upon in the name of development.

As per information obtained under the RTI Act, about 3,000 acres of notified forest land have already been used by the state government for establishing tree parks.