JOIN US'16,000 acre govt land encroached'
Speaking to presspersons here on Wednesday, he said that the encroached land include 2,200 acre in Madikeri taluk, 12,000 acre in Virajpet taluk and 2,500 acre in Somwarpet taluk.
Barring 2,000 to 3,000 rubber estates in the district, about 7,000 acre forest land has been encroached in the district, he said stressing on the need to further identify the encroached government land in the district.
“Four companies which had taken land on lease for 99 years to grow rubber have already approached the court. Since the companies have the title deed in their names, we will have to wait till the lease period ends to acquire the land. The companies were given land on lease by the then Chief Commissioner of Forest in 1911. The lease period ends in 2011-12,” he informed.
He said that there is no scope for taking back 35,000 acre C & R land which had been handed over to forest department as per the law.
Complaints
The Task Force has received 12 complaints on the encroachment of government land in the district. Deputy Commissioner K H Ashwathanarayana Gowda, AC Dr M R Ravi, ZP CEO A B Ibrahim were present.