1,000 acres of forest in Ballari turned into revenue land

Bengaluru: More than 1,000 acres of scrub forest in Ballari’s Sandur, enjoying the protection as a reserved forest for more than a century, has been turned into revenue land, thanks to an order passed by the revenue authorities by keeping the forest department in the dark.The 1,096-acre land parcel in survey numbers 165/A, 165/B, 177/c and 1/B of Somalapur village in Choranur hobli of Sandur taluk were notified as forests by the Madras Presidency on April 1, 1890. They were suddenly turned into ‘B-kharab’ or non-forest revenue lands, thanks to an illegal mutation executed on May 30, 2024.According to the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, no forest land can be converted to non-forest land without clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. However, the revenue authorities in Ballari have converted the land without any clearance.Documents obtained under the Right to Information Act by activist Dinesh Kallahalli show that on January 25, 2024, the then assistant commissioner Hemant N passed an order which ostensibly sought to correct errors in RTC certificates pertaining to 38 survey numbers/part numbers.While Hemant reasoned that the extent of ‘kharab’ (waste/revenue) land was not mentioned in the right row in Column 3 of RTCs and hence needed correction, a review of the old RTCs obtained form the Bhoomi portal of the Revenue Department shows that the RTCs pertaining to the four survey numbers had no such errors. “The assistant commissioner neither called the forest officer concerned to verify claims, nor seek an opinion from the department. He just issued an ex parte order which kept the department in the dark,” a senior officer from the forest department told DH, noting that ex parte orders have been ruled as void as they violate principles of natural justice.Karnataka: Wildlife groups seek protection for forest staff after Hanur firingIn fact, if the officer really wanted to correct the RTC, he should have put the forest department in column 9 (owner) from the column 10 (custodian) after verifying the notifications and documents.ConspiracyKallahalli said the issue was a clear indication of a conspiracy to illegally divert forest land. “This is a case where a revenue officer has gone out of his way to convert a forest land into revenue land so that it can be allotted to a major industry. The CBI should probe the conspiracy. The role of the forest department should also be verified in this matter,” he added.To a question, Ballari Deputy Conservator of Forests Basavaraja K N, who took over the post after the incident, said the department has written to the revenue department in the matter.“The assistant conservator of forests Ballari has written to assistant commissioner for mutation of 9,637 hectares of notified forest land in favour of the department. This includes the said four survey numbers of Soamalapura Reserve Forest,” he said, adding that his office has followed up the matter in May.Sources in the revenue department said the “mistakes” will be corrected. “The matter has been brought to the notice of the department. The corrections will happen within a week,” a senior official told DH.Besides getting clearances from the Centre, allotting forest land for industrial and any non-forest purpose involves providing equal amount of land, net present value and other compensatory afforestation charges.Allotting revenue lands, especially kharab lands, happens at the stroke of a pen. Considering that the government doesn’t even need to acquire lands from farmers, kharab land allotments have long been seen as coveted deals.However, in a district which has lost thousands of acres of forest for legal and illegal mining over the last three decades, the overnight change in the status of such vast extent of ‘Reserved Forest’ allegedly to pave way for more such activities has raised major concern.

Source: Deccan Herald