A joint survey is the solution to solve the forest-revenue land problem; Minister Eshwar Khandre suggests

Bengaluru: Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre expressed the opinion that there are problems regarding forest and revenue land in the state, which need to be solved through a joint survey, the survey number and available map of the declared affected forest should be made publicly available.

He was involved in a high-level meeting held at Vidhana Soudha's committee hall with Chikkamagalur district in-charge minister KJ George and district MLAs, and a certificate has already been submitted to the Supreme Court regarding the issue of deemed forest. More than 3.3 lakh area have been finalized as affected forest. It is also said that there is some patta land and a school, but now it is not possible to submit a separate certificate about the problems in each district. Thus, if all the District Collectors conduct a joint survey with the officials of the Forest Department, they can codify all the information and submit an affidavit to the Supreme Court again. He opined that only then this problem can be solved.

What was announced as Deemed 1 has already been abandoned. Declared as Deemed 2 is final, if there are any issues, efforts will be made to resolve them, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre assured the MLA of Chikkamagalur division that they will be instructed not to proceed with the 4(1) process until the joint survey is completed.

Solution to forest problem: Due to lack of rain, the problem of forest is increasing, installation of railway barricade is a suitable solution for this. In this context, the department has been instructed to submit a proposal, he said. He said that it has been suggested to return the elephants that have left camp in the Chikkamagaluru area to the forest and to catch the elephants and move them to the elephant camp.

Revenue Department Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar Kataria said that within a week the information on affected forest and reserve forest will be made publicly available. He said that now there is equipment like a sophisticated drone and they will cooperate to conduct a joint survey.