Karnataka begins work to de-notify lands wrongly tagged as 'reserve' forest

State revenue minister Krishna Byre Gowda said, government was trying to resolve a decades-old problem due to blurred boundaries of forest and revenue lands.

Bengaluru: Land "wrongly" categorised as forests - this may run into thousands of acres - will be de-notified based on a joint survey being carried out by the government, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said on Thursday.

The government, Gowda said, is moving to resolve a decades-old problem due to blurred boundaries of forest and revenue lands.

The joint survey to measure the exact extent of 'reserved forests' is currently underway in Chikballapur, Chamarajanagar, Chikmagalur, Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts.

This exercise is essential to help farmers - those cultivating in forest areas - who are unable to get revenue services such as records of rights, tenancy and crops (RTC) and Phodi (delineation of boundaries) as well as basic infrastructure such as roads and drinking water, Gowda said.

"Having taken this problem seriously, the government had made an assurance in the last winter session of the legislature that a joint survey would be done. The government had decided to make public information on reserved forests and provide cultivation rights to farmers on lands that did not have a map," Gowda said.

"Accordingly, after many years, a joint survey comprising forest and revenue officials was formally notified on February 16 and the work is going on with vigour," Gowda said.

In Chamajaranagar, the extent of 'reserved forest' is 28.45 lakh acres. So far, 12.70 lakh acres have been surveyed. It has been found that the forest department has notified 7,910 acres of revenue land. The forest department has been asked to de-notify this, Gowda said.

At Chikballapur, the survey has covered 21,662 acres out of 47,809.31 acres of 'reserved forest'. Surveyors have covered 800 acres out of 21,983 acres in Dakshina Kannada and 300 acres out of 1.30 lakh acres in Chikmagalur. In Kodagu, 20,769 acres have been surveyed so far.

To expedite the process, the government is deploying 991 licensed surveyors to all districts, especially Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada and Chamarajanagar where the problem is severe, Gowda said. He added that 364 government surveyors are also being recruited.

"Deputy commissioners have been instructed to carry out the joint survey in a phased manner in all the remaining districts," Gowda said.

Gowda said the joint survey will also make use of drones that have been commissioned already to measure the extent of all districts.