The Hindu : Eviction of forest settlers gains momentum

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 03, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Eviction of forest settlers gains momentum

By K.P. Muralidhara

HASSAN FEB. 2. The implementation of the Supreme Court order on clearance of encroachment from forest lands has gained momentum in the district. The action being taken by the forest officials for evicting "illegal settlers'' has led to resistance in some parts of the State, including Hassan.

According to senior forest officials, 25 per cent of the encroachers are resisting the move, and most of them are small and marginal farmers.

According to an estimate by the Forest Department, over one lakh families living in the forests in the State have to be evicted. About 91,000 hectares of forest-land has been encroached by small and marginal farmers.

Several non-governmental organisations have appealed to the State Government to intervene on behalf of the "forest-dwellers'' and amend the Forest (Conservation) Act to regularise encroachments and revise the cut-off date for the purpose.

According to a senior forest officer, encroachment of forests is a matter of serious concern. The encroachers have been living there for long and cultivating crops. The department has listed the extent of encroachment in Hassan prior to April 27, 1978. The area of forest-land encroached in the district is 909.37 hectares. As many as 1,473 families are living there. Encroachments are found in Arsikere, Arkalgud, Belur, and Hassan taluks. The largest area of encroachment of 188.79 hectares is in Belur. As many as 455 families live on these lands. Arkalgud has the lowest encroached area of 26.92 hectares, where 47 families live. While Arsikere has an encroached area of 126.9 hectares, involving 180 families, Hassan is in the third place with 79.9 hectares involving 182 families.

Shekar, Deputy Conservator of Forests, disclosed that nearly 486.91 hectares of land was cleared and 609 families evicted till December. The remaining encroached land would have to be evicted by May. "Fortunately, there is no encroachment in the evergreen forests of Sakleshpur and Yeslur ranges. Most of the encroachments are in the plains where there are dry-deciduous forests. Most of the dwellers are cultivating ragi and jowar,'' he said.

According to senior forest officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, a few dwellers have grown areca and coconut on the encroached land and it is difficult to evict them. However, they said the recent surrender of land by some people in Chikmagalur, including the Chairman of the Legislative Council, B.L. Shankar, has been a positive signal for the officials to act according to the law.

Senior officials observed that in the absence of the Supreme Court order, the department would have faced resistance in places such as Arkalgud where economically weaker sections have encroached land for a livelihood.

A letter dated May 3, 2002, from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to all State governments stated that "the problem of encroachment of forest-land is assuming serious proportions in the country.'' However, according to V.K. Bahuguna, Inspector-General of Forests, "such encroachments are generally done by `powerful people' and cause great harm to forest conservation, particularly when these are carried out in the remote areas in a honeycomb pattern. These encroachments are also seriously threatening the continuity of wildlife corridors between various national parks and sanctuaries.''

Mr. Shekar said for the effective implementation of its order, the Supreme Court had constituted a Central Empowered Committee to look into the destruction of forests taking place on account of large-scale encroachments of forest land. The committee consisted of the Secretary to the ministry, and the Additional Director-General of Forests, and two NGO representatives. The State Governments had been asked to form State-level committees for the effective implementation of the order. Thus a committee headed by the Chief Secretary had been constituted.

The State Government directed the district authorities to form district-level empowered committees with the conservators of forests as chairmen, and the Deputy Commissioners, the Superintendents of Police, and the Deputy Conservators as members.

He said the district committee had formed a sub-divisional task force, headed by the Assistant Commissioners and the Assistant Conservator of Forests, for the eviction.

However, the recent statement by Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, D.B. Chandre Gowda, that the Government has sought a review of the Supreme Court Order had given some hope to the settlers.

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