Karnataka govt ready to drop draft forest notifications to help farmers, says Eshwar Khandre

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will file an affidavit before the Supreme Court to drop its claims on land that was granted prior to notification under Section 4 of Karnataka Forest Act, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre said on Friday.

The minister held a meeting with the representatives from Chikkamagalur district who highlighted the problems faced by farmers. Even for those who were granted the notified land and cultivating the same more than 30-40 years, the government will explore denotification of the same by providing alternative forest land.

Under Section 4, the government only declares its intention to notify a land as forest. After settling the ownership claims of the occupiers, the government has to issue final notification under Section 17 to declare the land as reserved forest.

Khandre noted that there were lands which were notified as forests under Section 4 more than 60 years ago but yet to get final notification. "Chikkamgalur is a Western Ghats district with rich forests. In addition, about 300 to 400 acres are part of a single survey number here. The forest and revenue department will conduct a joint survey to resolve the issues," he added.

The minister acknowledged that schools, housing areas and patta land was erroneously included in the deemed forest list. He said such errors would be rectified in the department's latest move to redo the exercise of identifying the non-notified forest.

'Reduce buffer zone'

Meanwhile, the minister directed officers to reduce the buffer zone of the Arsikere bear sanctuary from 10 km to 1 km.

The direction came after the MLAs from Chikkamgalur and Hassan stated that the buffer zone restrictions have made it difficult for the farmers to continue their agricultural activities.