Babus take it easy as land grabbers have a go

Babus take it easy as land grabbers have a go
By R Krishnakumar, DH News Service, Bangalore:

Not even national parks are safe from encroachment. Transgressors have taken barracuda-bites off prime forest land -- more than 300 acres of it -- at Bannerghatta National Park on the fringes of the City.
This particular finding of the A T Ramaswamy Committee reflects the big picture: Land sharks have been getting away with blue murder in and around Bangalore, including vast tracts of forest land at BNP.
The committee has rapped Forest Department officials for letting the culprits get away.
This, after the department itself had listed (in August 2006) 542 encroachments in the park.
According to sources, though FIRs were filed and notices issued, no action has been initiated against the culprits.
Only after the committee started its hearings did the department wake up and start issuing eviction orders -- in November and December 2006 and January 2007.
The department has responded to the committee’s findings with a report that says action is “under progress” in 325 cases. However, no encroachment has been ‘undone’ at the BNP, sources told Deccan Herald.

Big fish
Of the 18,198 acres of BNP that fall in the Bangalore Urban district, around 307 acres (see box) have been encroached by 542 persons, including some names to reckon with.
Kumaramangalam Birla, for one. According to the committee, Birla has encroached on six acres and seven guntas at BNP.
Jairam Hegde, with 25 acres and 28 guntas, tops the list of encroachers.
Though a notice was served on him as early as in 2002, the Forest Department “conveniently kept quiet for eight months,” says the committee.
Mr Hegde, in a title suit filed in the Civil Court, contended that he had purchased the land from different persons on registered sale deeds in 1994 and has been owning the property till 2002.
FIRs on the BNP encroachments were filed in October and November 2002 only after the Union Government directed the Forest Department (on a Supreme Court direction) to act against the transgressors.

Not just BNP
In addition to BNP, encroachers have also taken over other forest land in Bangalore Urban.
Of the 8,476 acres of forests that come under the Deputy Conservator of Forests (for Urban district forests), 1,083 acres have been gobbled up by 316 persons.
According to the Ramaswamy Committee, FIRs were filed in only 128 cases and final orders given in only 87 cases (covering encroachment of 399 acres). Again, no encroachment has been dismantled.

Recommendation
The committee has recommended action for criminal negligence against Forest Department officials concerned, including the Range Officer, Deputy Conservator of Forests and other senior officials.
A recent Union Ministry for Forests & Environment report has noted that encroachment has been rampant in the five national parks in Karnataka: Bannerghatta, Anshi, Bandipur, Nagarahole and Kudremukh.