Meeting to resolve forest land title issue will be held soon: Minister Khandre

Bengaluru: Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment Eshwara B Khandre has assured that the issue of title deeds will be resolved within legal limits by conducting a joint survey of forest and revenue land in consultation with the Revenue Minister.

The Minister Eshwara Khandre presided over the meeting attended by MLA Anil Chikkamadu and responded to the plight of the people. The minister said that he will soon conduct a state level meeting in Bangalore to investigate the confusion about 12 families being forest dwellers in the DB Kuppe area and provide suitable solutions and discuss about all the lands of the victims of the river and inundation areas of the state where there is such a problem.

Responding to the request made by Anil Chikkamadu to build at least 72 km railway barricade in his constituency due to the elephant problem, the minister said that it is not possible to build 72 km in one year, but he will instruct the authorities to take action to build the railway barricade on a priority basis in areas where elephants are infested.

Mnister Khandre said that he had checked the functioning of the solar fence in the Antarsante forest area of Kabini today and said that on the same occasion he heard the problem of the tribals living in the forest. He said that he has instructed the authorities to provide them with the facilities due to them under the Forest Rights Act.

In the same context, the Minister has reviewed the requests received from the public regarding the distribution of rights as an alternative to forest land and indicated that if the application has been submitted within the specified period, only those who have been farming in an area of less than 3 acres before 1980 and who have been living there for three generations after building a house.Senior IFS officers Rangaro, Kumar Pushkar, Ramesh Kumar, Harsh Kumar and Tehsildar of HD Kote attended the meeting. Former MLA Sandesh Nagaraj participated in this meeting and explained about the issues related to Forest Rights Act.