Forest dept. acts to save lung space

Forest dept. acts to save lung space
VIjay TImes

BBa an ngga allo orree:: At last, the efforts of Adventure Activists seem to have paid off after the Forest department finally woke up to the problem of encroachments at Turahalli Reserve Forest, the nearest forest stretch to the City.

However, the department is said to have already lost land worth crores of rupees due to encroachments.

Of late, it has been noticed that a patch of land at Turahalli has been encroached by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and private individuals, while complaints have been lodged against 28 persons in this regard. “We have found that about 50 acres at survey number 5 has been encroached by the BDA, while another 15 acres is encroached at survey number 42 in Uttarahalli Manavarthekaval village. Even the temple and a choultry atop the hill are on encroached land," Annaiah, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bangalore Urban, told VViijja ay y T Tiim mees s. He said that considering the issue, the Range Forest Officer, Kaggalipura, on Sept 28, filed cases against 28 persons. Cases have been booked against B Chandrashekar, V Mohankumar, Narasimha Murthy, A T Krishnamurthy for fabricating documents and trying to sell the land. Two persons, R Dinesh Kumar and Hyderabad-based K Rajendra, were the buyers.

Ironically, the Citys adventurists had repeatedly brought this to the notice of the forest department and requested it to declare the spot as the worlds first ‘Bouldering Nursery.’ "We have been visiting this place since the past 15 years. We requested the department to act upon the same, but this did not yield results," K H Raju, a City-based rock climber said.

Thuppil Venkatesh, a founder member of SPARK, an adventure group, says that following his complaint, several officials visited the spot, but no action was taken. Raju says that the place, situated on Kanakapura Road, is the nearest forest patch to City and can be good lung space if left alone.