<p>Hubballi: In the last decade, the Karnataka Forest Department was able to recover only 13.6 per cent of the total forest land encroached.</p>.<p>Between 2014-15 and 2024-25 (March), the department resolved 7,621 cases and recovered only 31,317 acres of forest land.</p>.<p>According to data, nearly 2.30 lakh acres of forest land was encroached in the state as of August 2024 and the department had filed 1.19 lakh cases against the encroachers. </p>.<p>Legal procedure and the delay in the joint survey by the revenue and forest departments are resulting in slow clearance of forest land. The delay is caused due to appeals by the litigants in higher courts.</p>.Karnataka among states lagging in finalising unclassed forests .<p>In the last two years, the department has recovered 5,113 acres of land. </p>.<p>Chikkamagaluru-based environment activist Girish D V says the forest department tends to recover forest land only when courts give them instructions. “Forget about clearing legacy encroachments, the department is unable to prevent fresh ones. Every day, the state is losing forest land,” he says.</p>.<p>According to an interim annual report (2024) by the forest department, the department registered 900 fresh cases of encroachment between March and December 2024.</p>.<p>“Lack of political will to clear encroachments is tying the hands of officials in preventing fresh encroachments,” says Girish.</p>.<p>Multiple forest officials working in the field say that lack of staff at the grassroots level and prolonged legal battles are impeding the prevention of encroachment and recovery of encroached land.</p>.<p>The 2022-23 annual administrative report of the department states: “During the process of perambulation, the field staff have noticed that the boundary stones erected for demarcation of forest boundaries have been damaged and encroachments have occurred.”</p>.<p>Unless a joint survey of the forest and revenue departments takes place, it would be difficult to reclaim land as records have been created to claim the forest land, says a forest officer on condition of anonymity. </p>.<p><strong>Zero tolerance</strong></p>.<p>Speaking to DH, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre acknowledged the slow pace in recovering forest land. “Legal hurdles, multiple claim documents and livelihood of marginal farmers are preventing us from completing the clearance drive.”</p>.<p>Khandre claimed that fresh encroachments have almost come to halt in the state as they are using technology, including satellite survey, to prevent encroachments.</p>.<p>He says his government has zero tolerance towards forest encroachment and they would go after big and influential persons to recover forest land. “We are also fighting to recover leased forest land from private persons and restore it as forest land.”</p>
<p>Hubballi: In the last decade, the Karnataka Forest Department was able to recover only 13.6 per cent of the total forest land encroached.</p>.<p>Between 2014-15 and 2024-25 (March), the department resolved 7,621 cases and recovered only 31,317 acres of forest land.</p>.<p>According to data, nearly 2.30 lakh acres of forest land was encroached in the state as of August 2024 and the department had filed 1.19 lakh cases against the encroachers. </p>.<p>Legal procedure and the delay in the joint survey by the revenue and forest departments are resulting in slow clearance of forest land. The delay is caused due to appeals by the litigants in higher courts.</p>.Karnataka among states lagging in finalising unclassed forests .<p>In the last two years, the department has recovered 5,113 acres of land. </p>.<p>Chikkamagaluru-based environment activist Girish D V says the forest department tends to recover forest land only when courts give them instructions. “Forget about clearing legacy encroachments, the department is unable to prevent fresh ones. Every day, the state is losing forest land,” he says.</p>.<p>According to an interim annual report (2024) by the forest department, the department registered 900 fresh cases of encroachment between March and December 2024.</p>.<p>“Lack of political will to clear encroachments is tying the hands of officials in preventing fresh encroachments,” says Girish.</p>.<p>Multiple forest officials working in the field say that lack of staff at the grassroots level and prolonged legal battles are impeding the prevention of encroachment and recovery of encroached land.</p>.<p>The 2022-23 annual administrative report of the department states: “During the process of perambulation, the field staff have noticed that the boundary stones erected for demarcation of forest boundaries have been damaged and encroachments have occurred.”</p>.<p>Unless a joint survey of the forest and revenue departments takes place, it would be difficult to reclaim land as records have been created to claim the forest land, says a forest officer on condition of anonymity. </p>.<p><strong>Zero tolerance</strong></p>.<p>Speaking to DH, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre acknowledged the slow pace in recovering forest land. “Legal hurdles, multiple claim documents and livelihood of marginal farmers are preventing us from completing the clearance drive.”</p>.<p>Khandre claimed that fresh encroachments have almost come to halt in the state as they are using technology, including satellite survey, to prevent encroachments.</p>.<p>He says his government has zero tolerance towards forest encroachment and they would go after big and influential persons to recover forest land. “We are also fighting to recover leased forest land from private persons and restore it as forest land.”</p>