Turahalli reserve forest land recovered after 15-year struggle

After a 15-year tussle, forest officials have recovered three acres in the CCCreserve forest from realty major Gopalan Enterprises.

The Turahalli Minor Forest was created on the basis of a notification issued in August 1934 by the then maharaja of Mysore. A total of 597 acres and 19 guntas from Turahalli (Survey No 41 and 42) and parts of Uttarahalli hobli formed the Turahalli Minor Forest.

Gopalan Enterprises owns property adjacent to the reserved forest. The forest department first initiated proceedings against the encroachment in 2007. However, officials at that time noticed encroachment of only five guntas. The realty major lost its appeal against the notice in 2011.

However, when the state government decided to look into the wider issue of forest encroachment in Bengaluru Urban district, a detailed survey was conducted by a special team under the guidance of a high-level committee.

The new survey found that a total of seven acres and 23 guntas had been encroached in the forest area, of which two acres and 39 guntas were said to be encroached by Gopal Enterprises. A second FIR was registered against the company and a fresh notice was served in 2017.

The company's appeal, filed in 2018, was dismissed recently by the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), who noted that Gopal Enterprises had failed to produce any document to show that the latest survey records were wrong.

CCF Lingaraja S S said removing encroachments on forest land was crucial to ensuring a balance between development and conservation.

"Reclaiming the land is a long-drawn process as we have to give sufficient time for the parties to defend their claims. In this particular case, the order was issued after taking into consideration all aspects. We hope to clear the pending matters at the earliest," he said.

Led by Deputy Conservator of Forests Ravishankar S S, Bengaluru South ACF Charan G S, range officers Govindaraju and others, the department removed compound walls and other structures.

Charan said the department on Sunday took up activities to rejuvenate the degraded forest land.

"Together with citizens in the area, we planted jackfruit, jamoon, cluster fig, Sitaphal, Kadamba and other saplings. The company has set up a concrete mixer plant on the encroached land and has sought seven days to remove a part of it. We will take up more restoration activities soon," he added.