The Karnataka Forest Department has reclaimed 5.20 acre of forest land at
survey number 92 of BM Kaval Reserve forest, where it said the Bangalore
Development Authority (BDA) had ‘illegally’ sold sites for housing.
According to a letter sent to the Additional Chief Secretary (forest, ecology and
environment), Jawaid Akhtar, the BDA commissioner Kumar Naik said that
over 1,157 sites around the forest area have been sold.
Naik mentioned that the Forest Department was obstructing the construction of
the houses. He requested Akhtar to ensure that people who are trying to build
houses on these sites should not be inconvenienced. Most of these sites were
sold in 2003-04. A road is also constructed in the buffer zone of the reserve
forest.
In 2007, the BDA had allegedly encroached 45 acres of Turahalli forest to form
a residential layout. This year the Forest Department had recovered 9.2 acre of
land falling within Kaval Reserve forest limit. The land was encroached on by a
realtor and developer.
