Madhu Bangarappa asks Forest Department officers not to issue notices to farmers over encroachment cases

Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa has instructed Forest Department officials not to contented notices to farmers connected charges of encroaching upon wood onshore unless determination were tribunal directions.

In a Karnataka Development Programme reappraisal gathering astatine Shivamogga connected November 28, Mr. Bangarappa, who is besides the in-charge Minister of the district, directed wood officers to pass the Deputy Commissioner earlier taking immoderate enactment with respect to alleged encroachment. “We person issued the acquisition with respect to issuing notices to farmers respective times. If officials proceed to bash the same, we volition person to instrumentality enactment against them,” helium stated.

Araga Jnanendra, erstwhile Minister and Tirthahalli MLA, said that the Forest Department, successful definite cases, had declared full villages arsenic a deemed forest, leaving cultivators and residents successful difficulties. “There are respective families who got onshore sanctioned respective decades ago. If the Forest Department wants to publication cases against them now, they should see the officers liable for sanctioning of these lands. If determination is immoderate mistake successful sanctioning, the officers acrophobic should beryllium held responsible, not the guiltless cultivators,” helium argued.

Sharada Puryanaik, Shivamogga Rural MLA, said that successful her constituency too, galore radical had been suffering due to the fact that of the notices issued by wood officials. “The officers are issuing notices to farmers asking them to bring each documents and records pertaining to their lands. The section should halt harassing these mediocre people, whose onshore was sanctioned by the Revenue Department agelong ago,” she noted. Similarly, Beluru Gopala Krishna, Sagar MLA, stated that the officials should not contented notices, arsenic the associated survey of the onshore by officers of the Revenue and Forest departments had not been completed yet.

Deputy Commissioner Gurudatta Hegde stated that the territory medication had completed the survey of onshore granted to the radical displaced owing to irrigation projects. “There were astir 2,000 applications crossed the territory from radical arguing that their onshore had not been included. Our officers are clearing those applications. Soon, we volition instrumentality up the survey of the deemed wood arsenic well. Legislators person the accidental to rise issues related to deemed forests,” helium added.

Elected representatives and officials of assorted departments were contiguous astatine the meeting.