Over 3k acres of Bengaluru forest exists only on paper

Many land parcels now urbanised but govt yet to wake up

Bengaluru: Bengaluru's forest cover is grossly inflated, with 3,400 acres of it existing only on paper, according to an analysis of documents by DH. 

Many of the lands that were notified as forests over 100 years ago have been overrun by concrete structures, a reflection of the city's breakneck development over the years. 

But this transformation isn't showing up in government documents; instead, successive governments have been adding these areas into the list of "notified reserved forest". Some officials believe that updating or delisting will help the government face the stark reality of the real extent of Bengaluru's green cover.

A DH analysis showed that Wodeyars, the erstwhile rulers of Mysuru, had notified large swathes of land around Bengaluru for the preservation of the natural heritage of the city. The governments that took over the reins of the state have since then have either released the land without proper procedure or denotified them.

However, the state government continues to identify them as reserved forest in all its documents, from information provided before the Legislative Assembly and Council as well as the documents maintained by the department. 

Such false forests make up for at least 27% of the extent of the notified forests; officials believe it could be much higher, at 40%.

Take for instance the 537-acre Malgal Valley, notified in January 1921. This piece of land has become the urban sprawl of Yashwantpur, including Laggere and surrounding areas. Forest officials recently got hold of the document denotifying the area. However, for the 160-acre Gantiganahalli, there is a release order but no accompanying denotification.

A senior official in the government said the extent of such forests could be much higher. "In the Bengaluru division, an estimated 4,900 acres that were once notified as forests have become a developed urban landscape. Over the last 40-50 years, forest areas have been either denotified or were released for urbanisation without the legal procedure of denotification," the official said.

Kharab and agricultural lands, whose green cover complemented the forests, have also turned into layouts, he added.

To a question, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Working Plan) Biswajit Mishra said the department will rationalise the areas in the new working plan.

"We will rationalise the areas by looking into each of these cases. We have managed to get some denotification orders recently. In some cases, there are release orders but no denotification. Besides these two, there are grey areas for which we have to approach the Supreme Court for further procedure," he said.

After getting the apex court nod, the department has to take the approval of the legislature before dropping the forest areas from the list. 

Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) B K Singh noted the forest department's failure to exercise full rights on the documents pertaining to the forest lands was a major shortcoming.

"The government has to compensate for the lands that have been diverted by preserving the remaining non-forest green patches and declaring them as reserve forests. This is where protection of Devikarani Estate or Hesaraghatta grassland assumes importance," he said.