Turahalli forest land scam: BDA is not above board

Turahalli forest land scam: BDA is not above board
Deccan Herald

The Karnataka Forest Department has finally woken up to safeguarding its property, and initiated a survey of the entire 597.19 acres of Turahalli minor forest area south of Bangalore, off Kanakapura.


The Karnataka Forest Department has finally woken up to safeguarding its property, and initiated a survey of the entire 597.19 acres of Turahalli minor forest area south of Bangalore, off Kanakapura.

After the recent land grabbing case that came to the fore, where deals were made right under the “watchful” eyes of the department, several issues have surfaced, for which it is taking measures now.

First it was the Bangalore Development Authority, which has encroached upon close to 50 acres in the forest area.


The department, which took note of this aspect in 2004, has registered cases against BDA, which are pending at the JMFC, says A M Annaiah, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bangalore Urban.

BDA, by then had made roads, installed street lamps and had also begun laying sanitary lines, in bits of survey No 5. Taking this into account, the department had changed the site numbers that the BDA had allocated to over 100 sites to KFD (Karnataka Forest Department). Disregarding this, BDA had even wiped off the KFD sign to in turn highlight its site numbers.

Presently, BDA is in the process of completing its works in the Banashankari 6th Stage Layout, which is next to the forest patch, while the encroached area is being monitored by the Forest Department to make certain that no further violations occur. A recent inspection also revealed that three villagers who had encroached upon 16.32 acres in Survey No 42 for cultivation, had resurfaced to dig up a borewell in the area.

Forest Act violation

“A case was registered against them in 2005, but on August 18, the department caught them violating the Forest Act again, as they were digging a borewell. The department has seized four of their vehicles in this regard,” added Chinnappaiah.

According to Mr Annaiah, the Forest department surveyor has begun inspecting the forest patch on September 30.

“This is mainly being done to assess if there is any further encroachment in the entire area, and also for us to determine the periphery of the forest patch,” he said, adding that once the survey gets completed in three weeks, a physical boundary would be erected around the entire patch.

Apart from a few kilometres of fencing, the department has not taken other initiatives to show that the forest actually belongs to them. Also there are no boards in the forest to indicate this aspect.

“The department will erect six big boards, like that of the BDA, where there will a sketch of the forest area, and information pertaining to the surrounding areas, and survey numbers, at the periphery of the forest,” he said.

SHADY DEAL

*Extent of forest land gobbled

39 acres in Turahalli minor forest area. It is part of a 597.19-acre forest.

*Location

Survey No 5 of Uttarahalli Manavarthakaval, 8 km from Banashankari Temple, Kanakapura Road

*Who owns the land

Forest Department

*Sellers & Buyers

19 villagers of Turahalli sold 39 acres of the forest ‘on paper’ to R Dinesh Kumar, Bangalore, at Rs 8 lakh per acre. Kengeri sub-registrar Anantharamaiah has been suspended for allegedly registering the sale of land on July 27, 2006.

*Scam exposed

When B Chandrashekar, V Mohan Kumar, Narasimha Murthy and A T Krishnamurthy were planning to sell 343.38 acres of Turahalli forest to Hyderabad-based land developer K Rajanarendra, Range Forest Officer Chinnappaiah filed complaint at Thalaghattapura police on June 22 & Sept 28.

*In the firing line

FIR filed against 27 people — 20 villagers and 2 real estate agents, 4 buyers and one sub-registrar; Of the 27, 10 arrested