Karnataka in a mess

21 May, 2007

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Karnataka in a mess

Karnataka's national parks have the highest percentage of encroachments in south India
as private industry and official bodies have together stripped the state of its green cover

MAY 21, 2007 - INDIA TODAY
By Stephen David

When it comes to Karnataka's forest cover, even a brigand like Veerappan had his uses.
His dreaded presence in the jungles inadvertantly served to preserve the state's green cover, even though the bandit himself was an unrepentant poacher of elephants. "He kept encroachers at bay," admits ornithologist and bird specialist M.B. Krishna, says who is now rallying around his friends to save trees in the state's urban areas. But following Veerappan's death in October 2004, large tracts of forest areas have been virtually thrown open to landgrabbers and encroachers.

Elephants, their habitat shrinking dramatically, are not any safer either. The statistics of the central Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) reveal that Karnataka has the highest percentage of encroachment of national parks in south India-five national parks have lost nearly 685.61 hectare (1,694 acre) over the past five years. The worst hit is Bannerghatta National Park which has 8,427 hectare of tropical dry deciduous forest, 1,500 hectare of thorn forests, 500 hectare of moist deciduous forests and 30 manmade
tanks. Out of this, 482.32 hectare (1,191 acre) has been encroached upon over the past five years.

It is estimated that more than 24,281 hectare (60,000 acre) of reserve forest lands have been infringed in totality over the last decade. Officials estimate about 30 per cent infringement has taken place, since the demise of Veerappan more than 30 months ago, although no records exist to support this claim. In June 2006, a house panel under legislator A.T. Ramaswamy looked into the issue of encroachment of government and forest land in and around Bangalore. Following the Ramaswamy panel report, the forest department has filed nearly 300 cases of encroachment. The accused in these cases have been some usual suspects and more than a few unusual ones.

Nearly a 1,000 acre (404 hectare) of land was found to be illegally occupied in the Turahalli gudda minor forest, Bhootanahalli minor forest and Soolikere reserve forest areas.

According to the panel, nearly 750 acre (303 hectare) of reserved forest in Bannerghatta National Park area has been infringed upon by industrialists. Ramaswamy says buyers could not have acquired land inside reserved forest area without the knowledge of the forest department officials. "Both the forest department officials and the revenue department officials have to help unearth the scam and help in retrieving government land," he says.

Encroachers often escape punishment by dishing out false hakku patras (possession certificates), obviously, provided by insiders. In some cases, the encroachers have themselves been government 'insiders' in a sense. Forest department officials in February reclaimed 35 acre of deciduous minor forest at Turahalli, which was occupied by Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). According to S.M. Jaamdar, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, the BDA had "illegally helped itself" to a chunk of the 241 hectare (597 acre ) Turahalli minor forest, about 20 km from Bangalore, to form a residential layout at Banashankari 6th Stage.

In another 'insider' infringement of the law, the forest department also found Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) guilty of encroaching 10 acre of the Jarkebande reserve forest area that forms a part of Jarkebande Survey Number 59, "unintentionally for the Greater Bangalore Project" claims Corporation commissioner K. Jairaj. The department reclaimed the landafter issuing show-cause notice to the BCC Commissioner under Section 64(a) of the Karnataka Forest Act. Religious mutts have not been
spared either. Cases of encroachment of forest land around Bangalore have been filed against the powerful Vokkaliga Adichunchanagiri mutt. Deputy Conservator of Forests (Urban) A.M. Annaiah says that along with being the only green lung space for Bangalore, "The area is important for biodiversity and conservation of endangered
species".

The percentage of land lost in the Bannerghatta National Park may seem insignificant compared to the encroachment in Assam's Kaziranga National Park, where nearly 7,790
hectare is illegally occupied, as revealed in a Lok Sabha discussion in June 2006.

In Arunachal Pradesh, nearly 3,005 hectare has been lost at Namdapha National Park, while Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh has also suffered similarly.

Leo Saldanha of Environment Support Group, says the state's forests need aggressive protection. "There should be clear demarcation of park boundaries, fixing of signs cautioning penal clauses for encroachment, and strong boundary walls."

The infringement on forest land has also endangered the lives of elephants near Bangalore. More than 100 of them have died in the past 20 years, not to mention their conflicts with human beings from time to time. Due to the extensive loss of green cover, the wild animals, native to the Bannerghatta National Park which is part of the elephant corridor, often walk out of the forest zone leading to trepidation among the city dwellers.

"Bangalore is, perhaps, one of the rare cities that has wild elephants walking out of the forest areas, due to the shrinking green cover and steady denudation of the forest areas," says Suresh Heblikar of Eco-watch (an advocacy group based in Bangalore for environment conservation), who is helping build a forest cover on the outer ring road.