Forest officials need not recover the three acres of forest land: Rai

Mysuru:  “Forest officials need not recover the three acres of forest land encroached by the public for their livelihood”, said Ramanath Rai Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology on Friday February 20.

He was addressing media persons at the review meeting with the Forest officials of Mysuru region. Addressing the officers he said that The High Court has ordered not to clear the 3 acres of Forest land, that had minor encroachments.

But the families which have encroached more than 10 acres of land must be cleared by initiating drives to conserve forest land. The identification of deemed forest areas in the region has been completed and it is at the approval stage. Around 170 acres has been recognized in the region, while District Administration must consider C and D groups before declaring the area as deemed forest area.

Vinay Luthra,  Chief Conservator of Forest said, “The lands that are encroached before 1978 and the lands approved after 1980 have not been denotified by the officers. Moreover the government is now planning to  denotify them.”

In Mysuru region,  a total of 1823 families have encroached 222.73138 acres and among this 506. 48 acres of land encroached by 41 families have been recovered. Basic facilities are a must and the Forest officials should make sure that they provide sanitation and sufficient water facilities in the respective forest areas.