Crack the whip on rapacious BDA

It is in the dock again for grabbing 5.2 acres of forest land.

The real estate mafia gobbling up government land is common in Bengaluru, but here is a strange case of the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) grabbing a portion of a reserved forest. The forest department has recently recovered 5.2 acres in Badamanavarte Kaval (BM Kaval) encroached upon by BDA. Curiously, the BDA’s land acquisition notification makes no mention of this parcel of land. Yet, it has illegally taken it to form a layout now named Banashankari 6th Stage and allotted it to several individuals. The encroachment not only destroyed the forest and topography of the land, but also caused major changes in land use. Several trees have been chopped and a hill razed to form sites and even lay a road. This, according to forest department officers, will have a long term impact on the environment and on the lives of people living in the region.

While the deputy conservator of forests (DCF) concerned deserves to be complimented for his strong action, it is strange that such a large encroachment of reserve forest did not come to the notice of the department earlier. To make matters worse, BDA Commissioner Kumar Naik has urged the additional chief secretary (forest, ecology and environment) not to take any precipitative steps that would inconvenience allottees who would like to construct houses.

This is not the first time that BDA has been caught on the wrong side of the law. In 2007, A M Annaiah, then Bengaluru Urban DCF, had found that the BDA had grabbed 41 acres and 15 guntas in Uttarahalli and Turahalli forests to create a layout, and ordered its recovery. Even to this day, the land has not been recovered fully. While forest land being denotified for developmental activities is no doubt a concern, a bigger worry is that of government agencies themselves encroaching on forests, which has become increasingly common. In the instant case, the BDA could not have acted without the approval of its commissioner and chairman and possibly the connivance of top forest department officers. The fact that sites have already been allotted does not in any way condone the authority’s illegal act.

The forest department should immediately recover the land and take steps to re-forest it, while the BDA should either allot alternative sites or refund the money with interest. The government should send out a strict message by identifying the officers responsible and initiating punitive action under their service rules and the Forest Act.